Question

31. (1) Which of the following provides for a higher level of stability in the mRNA?


Alternative splicing

RNA editing

5' capping

3' polyA tailing

Trimming

Answer 1

3' polyA tailing

Answer 2

two possible answers.

in eukaryotes, coding mRNA is polyadenylated, which causes a higher stability. but that's not the main point. some mRNAs get degraded even faster when they are polyadenylated. the poly-A also helps in dissociating from the ribosome.

the thing that really works the trick against degrading is the 5' 7-M-Guanine cap. Since most nucleases "eat" from 5' to 3', a capped mRNA will much less likely be degraded. Therefore, this is your right answer.