Toor Lab Reveals How Splicing 'Ties the Knot'

Within our cells illegible sections of genes known as introns are removed by splicing to produce coherent messages used as directions for making proteins. These excised introns have a unique branched circular shape known as lariats. Researchers in Professor Toor's lab have observed for the first time at atomic resolution how these ubiquitous lariat molecules are formed. Their report was published in the journal NATURE on October 9, 2014.