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Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Enhanced Northern Blot Detection of Small RNA Species in Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: August 21, 2014
Crawling out of the RNA world
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. thomas.cech@colorado.edu
Abstract:
Comparison of phylogenetically diverse ribonucleoprotein (RNP) enzymes and information about their biochemistry have stimulated hypotheses about their evolution. Instead of the canonical view, in which catalysis proceeds from ribozyme to RNP enzyme to protein enzyme, RNP enzymes and proteins are seen to share contemporary catalysis. Furthermore, the RNA components of RNP enzymes show no evidence of fading out but instead, in some cases, have elaborated new functions.
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