Yes, microRNAs bind to mRNAs and can either cause mRNA degradation or can inhibit their translation. Because of this, there is a lot of work trying to develop therapies to either mimic or inhibit microRNAs as a way to, for example, suppress expression of a cancer-causing gene or to increase expression of gene affected by a genetic disease.
Alternative splicing increases the number of potential mRNAs and, therefore, proteins that can be produced from a single gene. Let’s quickly work out what that can mean for protein diversity:
If each numbered box in the diagram above represents one exon, how many potential proteins could be produced from this gene?
LaNts and Laminins 