Monday, December 12, 2016

Creation Moment 12/13/2016 - Hidden Universe of NoBody

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Romans 1:20
 
"Ribosomes — macromolecular machines consisting of RNA and proteins that twist, fold and turn — are responsible for making all of the protein within a cell and could hold the key to deciphering a range of diseases. Despite the intricacies of ribosomes, cells are able to churn out 100,000 of them every hour. But because they assemble so speedily, researchers haven’t been able to figure out how they come together.

Atlas of the RNA universe takes shape (Phys.org): Biochemists have known about the big molecules—DNA and proteins—for decades, but it wasn’t that long ago when a hidden universe of small RNA molecules came into view. ...Not just pieces of flotsam in the cell,
they act as a subtle and extremely sophisticated network of gene regulators,” cell biologists are learning.

Another hidden universe in the cell is just coming to light: the frontier discovery of “microproteins” or polypeptides. They’ve been hard to detect till now, but Salk scientists located one called NoBody that has an important role in the degradation of spent messenger RNA (mRNA). These spent mRNAs join with proteins to form P-body granules, the first step in mRNA recycling. It turns out the process doesn’t work without NoBody around. That sounds like a “Who’s on first?” joke, but this real microprotein is on the cusp of unlocking a whole unseen universe of other microproteins with important functions in the cell. So far they have found 400." CEH