1. Initiation of Messenger RNA Decay in Prokaryotes Dr. Sydney Kushner
University of Georgia
During the seminar offered to us by Dr. Kushner we learned about RNA and the recent
discoveries they have done regarding RNA decay in prokaryotes. TRNA’s are molecules that
transfer an organism’s genetic code into proteins. In prokaryotes tRNA bases are modified after
these become synthesized. One of the bases modified is inocine, this base can then pare up with
more than one counter base. E. coli has a total of eighty six genes; some of these genes have
more than one tRNA messenger. TRNA also controls cell growth, which is another of the
reasons why to its importance. A process than occurs in prokaryotic cells is polydenylation. This
process adds adenine residues to the 3’ terminal of RNA molecules. In e. Coli 79 out of 86 genes
follow this process. The last seven genes follow a different process, which results in these genes
having a different starting amino acid.