News > Unprecedented videos show RNA switching ‘on’ and ‘off’

Unprecedented videos show RNA switching ‘on’ and ‘off’

Similar to a light switch, RNA switches (called riboswitches) determine which genes turn "on" and "off." 

Now researchers discovered one part of RNA smoothly invades and displaces another part of the same RNA, enabling the structure to rapidly and dramatically change shape. Called "strand displacement," this mechanism appears to switch genetic expression from "on" to "off."