Biotech Updates

Scientists Find Key Organelle Involved in Gene Silencing

May 2, 2013

University of California-Riverside geneticists conducted a study on plants (Arabidopsis) and elucidated that the location of repression of target gene expression is at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the cell organelle composed of interconnected membranes. Furthermore, they showed that an important membrane protein (AMP1) present in the rough ER is needed for miRNA-mediated target gene repression to be successful. The team continues investigation on the organelle, aiming to decode the mechanism of miRNA-mediated translation inhibition. They will also study how miRNA are recruited to the ER. Results of the study could help in the development of drugs to fight diseases.

Read the research article at Cell journal: http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(13)00404-2.