2005 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript
This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2005. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.
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How might RNA's antisense abilities support the hypothesis that RNA was the original hereditary material?
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Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D.: A very sophisticated question.
The more we learn about RNA and the ways it can confer function, we gain clues about how RNA may have played a central role in early life forms. You raise an interesting question about some newly discovered ways that antisense RNA controls the expression of genes. What were the evolutionary origins of antisense RNA? Perhaps this points to an earlier role where RNA played a more central role in biological function, perhaps even predating DNA's role. |
| St. Ignatius College Prep HS |
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