In this recent study, researchers found a lonely microRNA that was not located near the ribosome, but was instead found within the nucleus.

But during a survey of more than 200 of the 500 known microRNAs found in human cells, Mendell’s team discovered one lone microRNA “miles away” — in cellular terms — from all the others.

“It was so clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time for what we thought it was supposed to be doing that we just had to figure out why,” says Hun-Way Hwang, a graduate student in human genetics and contributor to the study.

Apparently, miRNA may come with its own signal sequence, again underscoring the importance of location within the cell.

Yet the signal seems rather simple – a span of merely six nucleotides. One might say that this function is thus a “low information” state (although function is likely more complex, as the signal must be read by something) since it would appear easy to generate by chance. In fact, the entire miRNA can be viewed as a low information state. They are typically around 20 nucleotides in length and the functional part, sometimes called the “seed,” is also about six base pairs near the 5′ end ofthe molecule.

It’s such “low information” states that help us see the ambiguity that is often associated with inferring design. Since such a signal is plausibly generated by chance, we might be tempted to dismiss a role for design. But wait. What is the function of these miRNAs? Mendell likens them to “molecular rheostats that fine-tune how much protein is being made from each gene.” Whoa. Suddenly, a low information state makes perfect design sense; a system that exploits chance events to fine-tune gene expression in conjunction with environmental demands sounds like something an intelligent engineer might consider. In other words, designed to adapt.

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