Regular readers of this column will know that there are two main categories of nucleic acids—DNA and RNA. They’ll also know that while for living organisms DNA acts as the genetic data repository, RNA has a messenger role (mRNAs, transcribed from DNA to direct protein synthesis). Most will also recall that there are other classes of RNA molecules, particularly tRNAs (used to tag and identify amino acids for protein synthesis) and rRNAs (structural components of the ribosome, the cellular “machinery” for protein synthesis). In addition to these, there’s increasing interest in the molecular diagnostics community in a less widely known but no less common RNA form, the microRNA or miRNA.
Source: MedicalLaboratoryObserver
