Editing 3056: RNA

{{comic
| number    = 3056
| date      = February 26, 2025
| title     = RNA
| image     = rna_2x.png
| imagesize = 566x291px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = 2040s: RNA formed the basis for life each of the five known times it arose on the early Earth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The explanation is too technical, especially the last bullet point, and isn't directly explaining the comic.}}
This is a comic about how our understanding of {{w|DNA}} and {{w|RNA}} has evolved over time as we've done more research into how they figure into cellular and viral processes. In the 1960s, we had just started to understand the role of DNA; as the years progressed, we realized RNA played a part, initially as an intermediary; and it turned 'weird' as we learned that RNA's role is potentially as complex as DNA's, if not more so. People now believe that life as we know it developed as RNA, and then evolved proteins and DNA later; this is called the "{{w|RNA World}}" theory.
<!-- Wondering if to gut the above, back to "the general idea" and do a table of "milestones of understanding" (both comic, and additional), but would take a lot more work to get right... -->

*The first panel (1960s) shows the simplified (though incorrect) version of the {{w|central dogma}}, saying that RNA's sole function is to carry information from DNA to produce proteins.

*The second panel (1980s) shows the discovery that RNA itself can also catalyze reactions, like in {{w|ribozymes}}.

*The third panel (2000s) shows the more recent discovery of many different types of RNA that have numerous functions, like {{w|small interfering RNA|siRNA}} which acts in the {{w|RNA interference}} pathway, {{w|microRNA|miRNA}} which causes regulation of transcript expression, {{w|Piwi-interacting RNA|piRNA}} which regulates {{w|transposons}} and other genetic elements, and more.

*The fourth panel (2020s) explains that RNA seems to be the primary actor in life, and it merely uses DNA for permanent storage of information. In particular, DNA contains the genetic information that's copied when cells divide and when ova and sperm combine. This seems to be a reference to the {{w|RNA-based evolution}} theory, which claims that RNA is the primary driver of evolution. It's similar to the idea that [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/118413-a-hen-is-only-an-egg-s-way-of-making-another a hen is only an egg's way of making another egg].

*The title text [[605: Extrapolating|extrapolates]] from the fourth panel into the 2040s, when humans have learned that RNA was responsible for the formation of life on Earth, and that life formed on Earth five times. At the present time, all types of life we know of today (or have evidence of having existed) seem highly likely to have arisen from the {{w|last universal common ancestor}}. (It has also been hypothesized that viruses may have {{w|Viral_evolution#Origins|evolved independently of cellular life}}.) Whether this can change by the 2040s is unknown. It might take more advanced study of ancient rocks, and the sheer good fortune to uncover/discover a suitably preserved 'bed' of alternative biochemistry, to establish convincing evidence of some other origin(s) of life. Another possibility is that intense analysis of the current diversity of biology ''could'' extrapolate multiple origins for some of the chemical pathways that eventually became cooperative parts in some or all more recent forms of biological cells.

RNA has been mentioned previously in [[2425: mRNA Vaccine]], where the [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]] is explained, and [[3002: RNAWorld]], in which Disney decides to capitalize on the success of RNA.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[In each panel, Cueball is standing in front of a poster. On the poster there is a picture of a double helix (presumably DNA) and some illegible text, although the poster is different in each panel. Each panel has a header indicating the decade in which it takes place.]

:'''1960s'''
:[Cueball has a hand up in an explanatory pose]
:Cueball: Life is based on DNA, which uses RNA to make proteins do stuff.

:'''1980s'''
:[Cueball faces towards the poster, with his hand on his chin.]
:Cueball: Also, the RNA does some stuff itself, which is weird.

:'''2000s'''
:[Cueball has his arms raised in the air.]
: Cueball: There are so many types of RNA. It's doing ''so'' much stuff!

:'''2020s'''
:[Cueball has both his hands down]
:Cueball: Life is a seething mass of RNA that sometimes uses DNA to take notes.
:Person out of frame: What do the proteins do?
:Cueball: Errands for RNA.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]