RNAing Ribozymes B2
After reading blogs talking about dogma put up, and us speaking about enzymes in class, I thought I would look into more what RNA enzymes mean for life or molecular biology. Starting from the top we know that Dogma starts with DNA and makes RNA which makes protein, which function as enzymes and much more. According to writing by Schot we found RNA only in the 1980s and did not know about their enzyme activity until 1994. Knowing this information has led some to consider an RNA World Hypothesis which many of us have heard about. A theory which states that old life may have used RNA as genetic data. This being said perhaps before they were used to make proteins they could have performed some simple functions themselves. RNA or more specifically ribozymes are able to cut themselves and go through their own folding. It defiantly has some folding options to be able to position itself for activity.
When I think of RNA I consider three things one is the ability to make proteins, another is how it may cleave itself for certain genes to become activated and its use in viruses, especially HIV. Viruses like this I think show something very interesting because it is basic but has functioned for them still. Perhaps these are current systems that evolved from the old RNA world. I also think it important to mention that in these viruses these have transcriptase that does what many would consider being the reverse function of RNA, which is to become DNA. Starting in biology we have seen the Dogma in one direction, but it seems there is a possibility in this current age that it goes in reverse. In history’s there may have existed different ways these could have worked together. Over time it makes sense that DNA has become the majority due to its structural stability which may have led to its ability to function in complex organisms such as people.
I am enjoying the subject of RNA functions as I read about them. I will most likely pick a specific topic of them and go into detail in a future blog. To challenge myself now I will state how ribozymes can function in gene therapy.
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I like how you connected our discussion in class with your blog. I agree that this subject is a very interesting one. I feel that we do not know as much about RNA as we do about DNA. I am interested in what the rest of your blogs will go into detail about. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIt would also be interesting to maybe do a blog post about the 'discovery' of RNA, those types of things are usually fun reads since back when it was all new and speculative the debates were much more face to face and took longer to nail down so shenanigans ensue. A small note however, is maybe do some quick editing before posting, there are just a few spelling errors and small things like that.
ReplyDeleteBy "Dogma", do you mean "central dogma"?
ReplyDeleteYes I did the whole DNA To RNA To Protein idea.
DeleteThanks for the correction.