Key cellular organelle involved in gene silencing identified
Thursday, April 25, 2013 - 13:30
in Biology & Nature
How exactly microRNAs repress target gene expression is not well understood. Geneticists have now conducted a study on plants that shows that the site of action of the repression of target gene expression occurs on the endoplasmic reticulum, a cellular organelle that is an interconnected network of membranes -- essentially, flattened sacs and branching tubules -- that extends like a flat balloon throughout the cytoplasm in plant and animal cells.