Structural insights into RNA interference
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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Optical Tweezers to Study RNA-Protein Interactions in Translation Regulation
Published on: February 12, 2022
Dipali G Sashital1, Jennifer A Doudna
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
Virtually all animals and plants utilize small RNA molecules to control protein expression during different developmental stages and in response to viral infection. Structural and mechanistic studies have begun to illuminate three fundamental aspects of these pathways: small RNA biogenesis, formation of RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), and targeting of complementary mRNAs. Here we review exciting recent progress in understanding how regulatory RNAs are produced and how they trigger specific destruction of mRNAs during RNA interference (RNAi).
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