Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Mammalian genes can combine to make previously unknown mRNAs and proteins

phys.org · 12dShare

For decades, scientists have understood that each of the roughly 20,000 genes in the human body carries instructions for a single kind of protein. Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered that instructions from different genes—even those on different chromosomes—can combine to create chimeric mRNAs that produce previously unknown, functional proteins.

First report: Functional chimeric mRNAs encode proteins in mammalian immunity — nature.com, 13d