Overlooked ribosomal DNA may help explain human size differences

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA), made from many copies of ribosomal DNA (rDNA), is the core component that powers ribosomes—protein-building machines in our body. It helps build proteins by linking amino acids together, and can also fine-tune this process by interacting with other proteins and messenger RNA (mRNA). For a long time, scientists assumed ribosomes were more or less identical within a species. A new study in Cell Genomics is challenging that idea.