Genesare expressed into protein products by (1) copying a section of DNA in messenger RNA, (2) processing the mRNA, and (3) translating the mRNA into protein. In the processing step (2), proteins and small RNA molecules bind to the mRNA at special sites. Through the splicing process, a mature mRNA emerges which is often only 10% of the size of the original. Prof. Daniel Aalberts and his students study splice site recognition using thermodynamics, polymer physics, and statistics. The National Institute of Health awarded a grant of $220,479 to further this work: “Binding and Splicing mRNA.”
[press release] [Aalberts’ web page]
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