Question

In the roundworm c. elegans, the lin-4 gene produces an rna that forms a hairpin structure. one of the strands in the double-stranded region of lin-4 hairpin rna is complementary to the mrna of a protein-coding gene, lin-14. what is the most likely function of lin-4?

a. as rna interference to block the translation of lin-14
b. as a protein modifier that enhances phosphorylation of existing proteins
c. as a signal molecule to stop translation and release the mrna molecule from the ribosome unit
d. all of these are possible regulatory roles of lin-4

Answer 1

The most likely function of the lin-4 gene product in C. elegans is as an RNA interference mechanism that blocks the translation of lin-14 mRNA by base-pairing with it. Option a is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the roundworm C. elegans, the lin-4 gene is known to produce an RNA that can form a hairpin structure, which is a type of secondary RNA structure. This hairpin RNA's role is crucial in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, particularly in the process known as RNA interference (RNAi).

The mechanism by which lin-4 likely functions is by base-pairing one of its strands with a complementary strand of lin-14 mRNA. This binding can inhibit or decrease the translation of lin-14 by preventing the ribosome from accessing the mRNA, effectively attenuating the production of the protein coded by this gene.

Therefore, the most likely function of lin-4 is to act as RNA interference to block the translation of lin-14, marking option (a) as the correct choice.