Date of Award

1-1-2013

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Chemistry

Content Description

1 online resource (xi, 91 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Carla Theimer

Keywords

gene expression control, histone stem-loop, microRNA, stem-loop binding protein, Non-coding RNA, Messenger RNA, Genetic regulation

Subject Categories

Biochemistry

Abstract

In the past decade, microRNAs (miRNAs) have become a hot topic in biochemical research. These very short ~ 22 nucleotide strands of RNA have been recognized as a functional RNA group and found to play a key role in mediating gene regulation along with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). For example, by binding to the histone stem-loop (HSL) region of the target mRNA, normally in the 3'- untranslated region (UTR), gene expression can either be activated or deactivated for up or down regulation of the gene product. The majority of miRNAs have been found to down regulate gene expression upon binding to the 3'- UTR of an mRNA, but potentially miRNAs can also act as trigger up regulation of gene products in the cell.

Included in

Biochemistry Commons

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