The 'junk' in your DNA is actually a volume knob that controls the physical shape and texture of your cells.
We used to think that the specific way RNA is built only mattered if it changed the protein it produced. However, this study reveals that even 'silent' changes can alter the physical density and flow of the cell’s internal architecture, showing that DNA carries physical instructions alongside its biological ones.
RNA encodes physical information for condensates through structural heterogeneity
SSRN · 6545172
The capacity of mRNA to carry genetic information is long appreciated, but how the physical properties of RNA polymers impact function is less known. We developed a genetic algorithm that introduces synonymous mutations to control the heterogeneity of structures sampled by an mRNA. The behavior of the designed mRNAs indicates physical information can be embedded in the genetic code. We find that mRNA structural heterogeneity impacts RNA-RNA interactions and the physical properties of RNA-protein