MicroRNA is a natural RNA product with 19-22 nucleotides in length. It works as a RNAi in the regulation of gene expression. However, it is not made by man. It is made from genomic DNA and involved in gene regulation cross species. MicroRNA represents a new layer of post-transcriptional regulation in the body. "Nature Genetics" published a supplement issue to address microRNA-related questions, such as what is microRNA? How to study it? Following is the link to this free issue of Nature Genetics - microRNA supplement.

Click here to access:
http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/eYp70BiDI60Ct027U0E5

Genomic DNA has been completely sequenced for human and mouse. The next qeustion is the functions of genes. To address this issue in a big way, Europe, Canada, USA and China have made huge plans to generate 60,000 knockout mice together. This is reported in the current issue of "Science" at following link:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5782/1862?etoc. Hopefully, in the future, lab scientists can buy KO mice easily.

By Jianping at PBRC
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Jianping Ye, MD
Associate Professor
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Louisiana State University System
6400 Perkins Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: (225) 763-3163
Fax: (225) 763-2525
E-mail: yej@pbrc.edu