|
|
Post by minnow on May 27, 2006 21:14:40 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by kaley on May 28, 2006 17:49:43 GMT -5
Wow - that's really interesting stuff! (OK, at least to me!!) Thanks for the post Carol!!
Kaley
|
|
|
|
Post by Rhiannon on Jun 10, 2006 21:44:45 GMT -5
Actually I find that interesting too. Thanks
|
|
|
|
Post by Ryan Wunsch on Jun 10, 2006 23:30:19 GMT -5
But it doesn't say how they inherit the traits, without the genes that cause those traits.
How can that be?
Maybe I missed it, but if they say that they do, they better say how they do it. Maybe the trait is influenced by more than the allelles at the loci they are looking at?
Ryan
|
|
|
|
Post by kaley on Jun 11, 2006 12:52:17 GMT -5
Well, it's actually kinda a mystery, and is flipping the genetics world on its head a bit...
They figure that somehow RNA is involved in passing traits along...because in this particular case they have positively identified the causative mutation in the DNA, and know that they mice have the trait but not the mutation in question...
WARNING - This bit could get ugly!!! I'll TRY to explain the RNA thing a little: To start with, DNA is the material that codes for protein, but protein is not made directly off of the DNA template because DNA stays in cell nuclei and protein sythesis takes place in ribosomes outside of the nucleus...There are 3 kinds of RNA, but the important one is messeger RNA (mRNA) which is like DNA but slightly different, and can move out of the nucleus...so mRNA is synthesized off of the DNA template and then the mRNA is used as the template to synthesize protein...
What they think might be happening in cases such as these mice is that somehow one the kinds of RNA is affecting the protein synthesis in affected animals...they think that their may be some passage of RNA from parent to offspring, and that that RNA is involved in protein coding...
It's pretty strange stuff, and only sort of makes sense to me at this point...but it is becoming a HUGE area of research because it just doesn't fit the traditional "rules"...
I came across a paper the other day summarizing research in this area - If anyone is feeling really brave I can try to track it down and pass it along...I'm going to go through it myself, but I expect that I won't really understand it terribly well...
Hopefully I answered your question Ryan!!
Kaley
|
|
|
|
Post by Ryan Wunsch on Jun 11, 2006 13:12:17 GMT -5
WARNING - This bit could get ugly!!! I'll TRY to explain the RNA thing a little: To start with, DNA is the material that codes for protein, but protein is not made directly off of the DNA template because DNA stays in cell nuclei and protein sythesis takes place in ribosomes outside of the nucleus...There are 3 kinds of RNA, but the important one is messeger RNA (mRNA) which is like DNA but slightly different, and can move out of the nucleus...so mRNA is synthesized off of the DNA template and then the mRNA is used as the template to synthesize protein... Well, thats just common sense  Yuppers, thanks. It is a bit over my head, and I doubt I'll spend a lot of time trying to figure it out, but I get the concept of what you said and I can see why it is going to be mind blowing. Ryan |
|
