Can RNA even be kawaii?

Micro RNA (miRNA) is the cutest form of RNA in the human body (by an official vote). It is a member of the Non-coding RNA family, and targets mRNAs instead of the DNA, unlike most molecules involved in  epigenetic mechanisms, like methyl or acetyl groups. It is only around 21 bases long, but there are at least 1,000 different kinds in our cells. The majority act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, but they don't just stop production of RNA at its source, no no, that would be too simplistic, they actually bind to it and control its actions in the cell. Typically they achieve this by binding to the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) at the end of an mRNA molecule. The 3' UTR plays a vital role, despite the fact it does not code for any amino acids. At this point you might be thinking; if it doesn't code for amino acids, then wouldn't it be spliced out of the pre-mRNA by splicosome enzymes with the other introns? The answer is no, the 3' UTR is retained because it acts as a regulatory sequence, which allows miRNA to bind to specific base sequences which it recognises on the mRNA. The vital region involved in this interaction is the bases in positions 2-8 on the miRNA molecule, but the base sequence match does not have to be perfect for the molecules to bind. Once attached the miRNA prevents the translation of  mRNA into protein, but if there is a 100% 8 base match between the miRNA and mRNA, the mRNA is completely destroyed by hydrolytic enzymes attached to miRNA (tiny but mighty). A single miRNA can simultaneously influence the translation of many differently spliced forms of a particular mRNA molecule, but it can also influence entirely different kinds of proteins, coded by different genes, which have the same 3' UTR sequence - it seems as though that sequence at the end of the mRNA is all that matters to miRNA. Therefore it is a tricky molecule to study, as it can affect such a wide variety of proteins. There is another level of beauty to this already remarkable molecule, to do with evolution and even cancer drugs. Tune in next post to find out more! (so enticing...)