Question

What is the purpose of small RNAs?

1) Silence transposons
2) Cause transposition
3) Extend exons
4) Create introns
5) We don't know

Answer 1

Small RNAs like siRNAs primarily function to silence transposons and regulate gene expression, preserving genomic integrity by preventing damage from uncontrolled transposon activity.

Step-by-step explanation:

The primary purpose of small RNAs, such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), is to regulate gene expression within cells, often through a process known as RNA interference (RNAi). One key function of siRNAs is to silence transposons — the mobile genetic elements that can move within a genome. This silencing helps maintain genomic stability by preventing the potentially detrimental effects of uncontrolled transposon activity.

siRNAs complement and target transposon transcripts for degradation, thus mitigating the dangers of rampant transposition. In terms of the given options for the student's question, the correct answer would be to silence transposons.