MicroRNA drives cells' adaptation to low-oxygen living
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 09:56
in Biology & Nature
Researchers have fresh insight into an evolutionarily ancient way that cells cope when oxygen levels decline, according to a new study in the October 7th issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. In studies of cells taken from the lining of human pulmonary arteries, they show that a microRNA – a tiny bit of RNA that regulates the activity of particular genes and thus the availability of certain proteins – allows cells to shift their metabolic gears, in a process known as the Pasteur effect.