DNA is known as the code of life—and justly so. It contains the assembly information for organisms ranging from bacteria to blue whales. During the decoding process, long stretches of DNA are first transcribed into templates called messenger RNA, or mRNA. These templates are used to build the proteins that make up living tissues.

For years, scientists considered most mRNAs as mere stepping stones on the road to protein production. Now a shorter species of RNA not directly involved in protein manufacture is changing that view. Discovered just eleven years ago, these non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are turning out to have far-reaching effects on development, gene regulation, and human disease.

»sciencematters.berkeley.edu/arch···ory3.php