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In 2003, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. Ironically, this year saw great excitement among biologists about RNA, particularly about a recently discovered form of RNA called microRNA.
Every cell that makes up an organism contains a full complement of genes. Yet cells are different from each other, because at any given moment, certain genes within each cell are expressed (turned on) while others are silenced. Most scientists had concluded that proteins alone control expression of genes. However, the sequencing of the human genome (and several plant and animal genomes) has revealed otherwise.
Most genomes contain hundreds of genes that encode a newly discovered class of molecules -- microR…