Mathematical molecule model presents puzzle solution
An illustration of how the process works, according to the new model.
A mathematical model constructed by Professor Alexander Gorban from our Department of Mathematics and Andrei Zinovyev from Institut Curie in Paris could work out the functioning of small molecules known as microRNAs – components of the body akin to the electronics in modern airplanes. They worked in collaboration with biologists Nadya Morozova and Annick Harel-Bellan from theCentre national de la recherche scientifique in France.
For a long time molecular biologists thought that the major role of RNA in living cells was to serve as a copy of a gene and a template for producing proteins, major cell building blocks. This belief had been changed at the end of 90s when it was found that myriads of RNA molecules are involved in regulating speeds of practically all molecular mechanisms in a cell. These abundant molecules are essential in regulating the speed of protein production– a vital function in bodily processes, including development, differentiation and cancer.
Their findings, published in advance online in the RNA Journal, showed that there might be one simple mechanism which manifests itself differently in different conditions.
