I know it sounds like a stupid question. Obviously, tRNAs and rRNAs, for example, form loops and could therefore be considered as dsRNAs... but are they really considered as such?

Are there examples of RNAs, in eukaryotic cells, that could be considered exclusively as dsRNAs, or are dsRNAs considered as unique to certain viruses?

Thanks in advance for your help. I couldn't find a clear answer to that question in my textbooks and on the internet, so I hope you can help.


Yes, dsRNAs are present in eukaryotic cells and regulate various biological processes.

These nucleic acids are also present in the nucleus and regulate mitosis. Altering this nucleic acid could even lead to cell death.

(Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25504323/)

  • $\begingroup$ I attached the image of a research article as Peter Bernhard can't access this article. And I tried to add the whole article but couldn't do that because of size issues. I will remove this image because of copyright issues. I Will keep this in mind from now onwards. Thank you David. $\endgroup$ – Twinkle Sheen Dec 30 '20 at 20:46

I will keep it very very short and simple.

dsRNA is very critical in regulation of gene expression at translational level.

In our system we have specific miRNA (micro RNA) that are somewhat complementary to a specific mRNA and miRNA-mRNA binding forms a double stranded molecule that is degraded by our system at a cellular level. So in a way it controls the translation of mRNA(s).

Further reading about miRNA- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6085463/

  • $\begingroup$ Sure about "at translational level" if it's mRNA being degraded - that doesn't make it "at transcriptional level"? $\endgroup$ – Peter Bernhard Jan 31 at 14:51
  • $\begingroup$ No. Transcriptional level would mean it interferes with DNA. $\endgroup$ – A Nandi Ψ Feb 1 at 15:16
  • $\begingroup$ @PeterBernhard miRNAs bind mRNA and block ribosomes from tranlating it. So it is at a translational level. $\endgroup$ – Roni Saiba Feb 2 at 13:43

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