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News: In a study, scientists reported that extracellular RNA (exRNA) from bacteria can persist in disinfected drinking water.
About Extracellular RNA (exRNA)
- Extracellular RNA (exRNA) are RNA that exists outside cells.
- They are found in body fluids such as blood, saliva, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid.
- They are heterogenous populations including small (e.g., miRNA) and long non-coding RNAs and coding RNAs (e.g., mRNA).
- They can exist in a free form or associate with carriers range from lipo- and ribo-proteins to extracellular vesicles such as exosomes in the extracellular fluids.
- To survive outside the cell, exRNA travels in its own molecular containers that prevent enzymes from breaking it down before it reaches its destination.
- Functioning: They are part of a sophisticated long-distance cell-to-cell communication system.
- A cell releases RNA to deliver instructions to another cell elsewhere in the body, changing how it behaves or which genes it activates.
- This process helps coordinate responses in the immune system, tissue repair, and development.
- Applications: The exRNAs have been widely studied as a biomarker for cancer and other diseases.
