Perspectives in Biology: RNA Interference

These flashcards cover essential concepts related to RNA interference and translation initiation, providing a concise review of important biological processes and mechanisms.

What is RNA interference (RNAi)?

A biological process in which RNA molecules inhibit gene expression or translation.

What role do siRNA and miRNA play in gene regulation?

They function as regulators of gene expression, targeting complementary mRNA for degradation or translational inhibition.

What is the primary function of Dicer in the RNAi machinery?

To process long double-stranded RNA into small interfering RNA (siRNA) and assist in RNA interference.

What occurs during the initiation phase of translation in eukaryotes?

The initiation complex binds to the 5’ cap of mRNA and moves along the mRNA to find the start codon AUG.

What is the function of the release factor during translation termination?

It binds to the stop codon in the A site of the ribosome, leading to the release of the polypeptide chain.

What physiological function does RNAi serve regarding viral infections?

It aids in the degradation of viral RNA, thus defending against viral infections.

What is the significance of the primary miRNA (pri-miRNA)?

It is the initial transcript from which miRNAs are processed, regulating gene expression.

How do small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) function in post-transcriptional gene silencing?

They induce the degradation of complementary mRNA targets or inhibit target translation.

What role does RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex) play in gene silencing?

It mediates the silencing of target mRNA by using siRNA or miRNA to guide it to the mRNA for degradation.

What happens during the process of RNA splicing?

Introns are removed from the primary RNA transcript, and exons are joined together to form mature mRNA.