ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2010) — Ever since tiny bits of genetic material known as microRNA were first characterized in the early 1990s, scientists have been discovering just how important they are to regulating the activity of genes within cells.
Researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP), in collaboration with groups at the Universities of Helsinki and Uppsala and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University, made the discovery while working out the intricate details of plant root development in Arabidopsis, a highly-studied mustard plant. Although they still don't know exactly how the microRNAs travel, it appears that this mobility allows them to play an important developmental role in sharpening the boundaries that define one plant tissue from another.
"To our knowledge, this is the first solid evidence that microRNAs can move from one cell to another," said Philip Benfey, director of the Duke IGSP Center for Systems Biology.
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Cell signalling by microRNA165/6 directs gene dose-dependent root cell fate
Annelie Carlsbecker1,2,8, Ji-Young Lee3,4,8, Christina J. Roberts2, Jan Dettmer1, Satu Lehesranta1, Jing Zhou3,4, Ove Lindgren1,5, Miguel A. Moreno-Risueno6, Anne Vatén1, Siripong Thitamadee1, Ana Campilho1, Jose Sebastian3, John L. Bowman7, Ykä Helariutta1,8 & Philip N. Benfey6,8
Institute of Biotechnology/Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland
Department of Physiological Botany, Evolutionary Biology Center, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tower Road, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Graduate Field of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu 50411, Estonia
Biology Department and IGSP Center for Systems Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Ykä Helariutta1,8Philip N. Benfey6,8Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Y.H. (Email: yrjo.helariutta@helsinki.fi) or P.N.B. (Email: philip.benfey@duke.edu).
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Sob qual referencial teórico esta pesquisa traria mais e melhores conhecimentos: mero acaso, fortuita necessidade, mutações filtradas pela seleção natural e n mecanismos evolutivos, ou Design Inteligente?
