Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Enhanced Northern Blot Detection of Small RNA Species in Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: August 21, 2014
Small RNAs break out: the molecular cell biology of mobile small RNAs
1Gurdon Institute and Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, The Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
Abstract:
Small RNAs that function in a non-cell autonomous manner are becoming increasingly recognized as regulatory molecules with the potential to transmit information between cells, organisms and species. In plants and nematodes, small RNA mobility can be genetically dissected to provide information about the nature of the mobile RNA species, their distribution in the organism and inside cells, as well as the cellular machinery required for mobility, including channel proteins and cellular trafficking factors. Mobile RNAs function in antiviral defence, cell signalling and gene expression regulation, and might also mediate transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.
Related Concept Videos
RNA Interference
This process occurs naturally in cells, often through the activity of genomically-encoded microRNAs. Researchers can take advantage of this mechanism by introducing synthetic RNAs to deactivate specific genes for research or therapeutic purposes. For example, RNAi could be used...
RNA Interference
siRNA - Small Interfering RNAs
In the cytoplasm, siRNA is processed from a double-stranded RNA, which comes from either endogenous DNA transcription or exogenous sources like a virus. This double-stranded RNA is then cleaved by the...
Small interfering RNAs (siRNA)
Experimental RNAi
MicroRNAs

