Junk DNA: goodbye!: rat brain research (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, December 23, 2015, 01:14 (3259 days ago) @ David Turell

Blocking a long noncoding RNA in rats helps protect their brain from a large stroke. This lncRNA was previously considered junk, but the study below uncovered its function:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151215185858.htm-"A study of rats shows that blocking a type of RNA produced by what used to be called "junk DNA" can prevent a significant portion of the neural destruction that follows a stroke. The research points toward a future treatment for post-stroke damage, which is often more extensive than the initial destruction that results when blood to the brain is temporarily shut off.-***-"'Less than 2 percent of the RNAs formed from the genome code for proteins, leaving 98 percent that we call 'noncoding RNA,'" says senior author Raghu Vemuganti, a professor of neurological surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.-***-"This lncRNA can bind to other RNA, to a protein, or to a protein on one side and DNA on the other," says first author Suresh Mehta, a scientist in the Department of Neurological Surgery. "Among many other jobs, lncRNAs can regulate gene activity.'"-Comment: This is presented for the lncRNA functional control demonstration. How much junk DNA is really present. ENCODE says about 20%.