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MRNA Capping Efficiency Testing

Ever heard of something called mRNA? Messenger ribonucleic acid — it helps make proteins. Proteins are small machines that do many jobs in our cells. Scientists study mRNA to understand how well it makes these proteins. Efficiency is just another word for how well works. The cap is an essential part of the mRNA. The cap is a small 'hat' on the 5′ of mRNA. It stabilizes the mRNA, in doing so it keeps it bonded and stops them from breaking down too fast. The cap also tells the mRNA where to go in the cell so that it can work. To test the quality of the cap scientists perform a test mRNA capping efficiency analysis. 

At this point, you may be asking yourself why does it matter how well the cap is made. And it can break all sorts of stuff if it the cap is not made correctly. The mRNA might not be stable if it does not have a good cap. The trouble is, this means that it does not hang around for long enough to make a lot of protein, and then there will be problems in the cell. On occasion, the mRNA may even be misplaced in the cell and not produce proper protein, as well as the Yaohai's Reporter Gene mRNA. So it is important for scientists to understand how the cap perform. By doing this, it helps them fix these issues and improve how our cells work. Researchers can also use the mRNA capping efficiency measurement to design new drugs. So for instance, if they discover that the cap is not performing well in specific conditions, they can work on addressing it and improve the cap.

The importance of measuring mRNA capping efficiency

Therefore, how are scientists able to calculate the mRNA capping efficiency in reality? There are a few ways they could do this, and one of the most commonly used methods is called reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction or RT-qPCR, just like the Yeast Genotype from Yaohai. This may sound like something out of Star Wars but all it means is that scientists take a machine and have it process the original mRNA so they can measure how much they made. They use a special molecule called a primer to do this copying. Well this primer is kind of like a little aide that binds to the cap on the mRNA. The primer can only adhere so well to the cap if the cap itself is poorly made. This means fewer copies of mRNA will be made, hence the researchers have less to tally. 

That said, there are caveats that scientists need to consider in testing mRNA capping efficiency. These limitations include where the best primer for you is not always clear. Each type of mRNA has a different cap, so PCR primers that work well on one may not work as well on another. One of the limitations is an RT-qPCR machine which could be pretty costly. The expense means that not every lab can afford one, leaving some scientists without a vital tool.

Why choose Yaohai MRNA Capping Efficiency Testing?

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