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small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle
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small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle

biochemistry
Also known as: snRNP
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Quick Summary

Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs) are crucial components in cellular biology, particularly in the processing of RNA. These particles are composed of small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) and proteins.12

snRNPs play a vital role in RNA splicing, a process essential for gene expression in eukaryotic cells. During splicing, introns (non-coding regions) are removed from precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA), and exons (coding regions) are joined together to form mature mRNA. This process is carried out by a complex machinery called a spliceosome, which is made up of multiple snRNPs. The snRNAs within these particles have sequences that are complementary to the junctions between introns and exons, allowing them to guide the removal of introns and the ligation of exons.23

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3 Britannica Sources
  1. nucleic acid - Other RNAs
  2. nucleic acid - Splicing
  3. cell - Processing of mRNA

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