Paszkowski, J., Martienssen, R. A. (November 2012) Cell signaling and gene regulation. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 15 (5). pp. 493-495. ISSN 1369-5266
Abstract
In 1983, Barbara McClintock concluded her Noble Lecture ‘THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RESPONSES OF THE GENOME TO CHALLENGE’ with the following statement: ‘In the future, attention undoubtedly will be centered on the genome, and with greater appreciation of its significance as a highly sensitive organ of the cell, monitoring genomic activities and correcting common errors, sensing the unusual and unexpected events, and responding to them, often by restructuring the genome.’ So far the most intensely studied part of this ‘highly sensitive organ of the cell’ consists of genes coding for proteins. We now know a great deal about their structures, their transcriptional regulation, the processing of transcripts, and the biological activities of their end products — the proteins. A further part of this ‘organ’ encodes transcripts that have various cellular activities as RNAs, mostly through association with proteins and the formation of multi-molecular complexes or structures. These range from very basic splicing and translation to the regulation of crucial developmental switches in the life cycle of multicellular eukaryotes. However, these two aspects of the ‘organ’ typically constitute only a small fraction of its volume.....
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