Talk:Riboswitch

EL
This external link should be re-considered once the site is available:


 * Riboswitch Registry, a comprehensive infobase on Riboswitches and their ligands -- — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zashaw (talk • contribs) 02:47, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Error
Hey! I am currently writing my dissertation on riboswitches and noticed that there is a mistake on this webpage: A T-box is not a riboswitch, even though it binds to the 5' untranslated region. The tRNA interacts with the UTR via Watson-Crick base-pairing, which differs from the typical aptamer-metabolite interactions. If you read through the papers, a T-box is just another RNA-mediated control of gene expression as miRNA-regulation or temperature-dependent modulation of mRNA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.2.130.11 (talk • contribs) 19:16, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Pictures for riboswitch page
The current RNA secondary structure picture is quite uninspiring. It would be great to have a 3-dimensional structure picture showing a bound ligand for example. Also it would be nice to see a diagram showing an example mechanism of action. Alexbateman (talk) 09:10, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

deleted text 1
I deleted this statement:
 * In 2009 Pascale Cossart demonstrated that riboswitches operate upstream as well as downstream, identifying more than 40 riboswitches in the first full map of an operon.

The main problem with the statement is that the cited paper does not demonstrate that these riboswitches operate upstream. What it demonstrates is that these riboswitches sometimes are part of transcripts that include the upstream gene. Regulation of the upstream gene is not demonstrated, only hypothesized. Therefore, it seems premature to include the statement in our article.

-- Zashaw (talk) 22:52, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

deleted text 2
I deleted this statement:
 * Also in 2009 the first human Riboswitch was discovered as part of VEGF.

The cited editor's summary contradicts itself. It says "RNA switches or riboswitches, involving the binding of small ligands to RNAs..." However, the VEGF element does not bind a small ligand.

-- Zashaw (talk) 03:48, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

looking for consensus
Hello. I added an external link to a presentation at the NIH that is directly relevant to this article. undid it with the explanation "This is technical; not especially accessible for every day people". To my knowledge, wp does not require articles to be written for every day people. Wp articles should be able to be understood by college students. I have taught biology to a large number of college students. I would not expect my freshmen gen ed students to understand NIH seminars. I definitely would expect my upper division undergrad biology students to understand the presentation. Perhaps jytdog isn't as advanced as my upper division students, but that doesn't justify jytdog censoring content that some readers may benefit from. So, I have reinstated the link to the NIH seminar, and I ask for community consensus on whether to include it. Finally, BTW, if that seminar is viewed as too technical for wp, then every single gene and protein infobox I've seen should be deleted, since they are clearly much more technical. Thank you for your time and replies. JeanOhm (talk) 17:09, 24 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Since jytdog appears to be intent upon removing this content, I have included it here. BTW, judging from jytdog's edit history {edits at 2:48, 2:52, two at 2:55 AND THEN at 2:57, in which jytdog judged that the video seminar is inappropriate for wp} there is no indication that jytdog actually viewed the video before removing it. Also, in response to a discussion jytdog and I had on my talk page, I have no connection at all to the speaker, his institution or the NIH. I included it because it is a verbal review of several research publications that has great images that cannot be included on the commons.JeanOhm (talk) 18:03, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

Discovery
The article should mention when riboswitches were discovered, or when the word was first used. I have noted down 2002, but now I am not sure, and wikipedia does not answer that question currently. At the least not on the page here. 2A02:8388:1600:A200:CCD4:74A1:3FC0:A532 (talk) 18:35, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

Thus, an mRNA that contains a riboswitch is directly involved in regulating its own activity, in response to the concentrations of its effector molecule. DrKC MD (talk) 02:33, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Does it make sense to even talk about "regulating its own.."?
The statement "Thus, an mRNA that contains a riboswitch is directly involved in regulating its own activity, in response to the concentrations of its effector molecule." seems to imply a teleology and I am not sure that the possessiveness implied is completely substantiated by evidence. Are you trying to say that the riboswitch is directly regulating the riboswitch activity? Seems rather circular and pointless, and perhaps not altogether true. Or that the mRNA is regulating the mRNA activity. It seems more that the bound molecule is doing the regulating, and the mRNA is somewhat beholden to the concentration of the small molecule. It is fun that there is a highly efficient linkage between sensor and signal, but perhaps a confusing way to say it?

I think the point the author was trying to make is that mRNAs translation occurs without the need for regulatory proteins.

I don't mean to diminish mRNA, but rather than mRNA declaring autonomy, this another a means (perhaps even clever, but I am talking about evolution being clever, not mRNA) for tuning protein synthesis rates independent of transcription (and likely a bit more nimble), and is not exactly under the willful control of the mRNA molecule. DrKC MD (talk) 02:48, 28 June 2023 (UTC)