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RNA has become a hot topic, particularly in cancer research.
RNA has become a hot topic, particularly in cancer research.
Just a few years ago, scientists began to realize that our genes, neatly written with chemical letters in our DNA, are actually not carved in stone.
Although genes themselves don't change, they can be regulated.
They are turned on and off as we grow and develop. These changes are influenced by our surroundings, so we actually change over the course of our lives. And some of these changes in regulation are passed on to our children.
Figuratively speaking, our DNA can be described as the recipe book for who and how we are, while epigenetic regulation can be seen as notes that have been pencilled into the margin.
Epigenetics thus describes a fascinating layer of information and regulation of our genes that enables us to adapt to new environments much faster than via normal evolution.
But lately, scientists have seen evidence of something more.
Another layer.
This time it's not about DNA, but about RNA, says Professor Arne Klungland at the University of Oslo.
"There has been an extreme interest in this field over the last five years," says Klungland, who himself leads one of the few research groups in the world that has worked in the field for a long time.
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