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Cells From Different Species Can Exchange ‘Text Messages’ Using RNA
Long known as a messenger within cells, RNA is increasingly seen as life’s molecular communication system—even between organisms widely separated by evolution.
In 2024, new studies have exposed additional layers of this story, showing, for example, that along with bacteria and eukaryotic cells, archaea also exchange vesicle-bound RNA, which confirms that the phenomenon is universal to all three domains of life. Over the past decade, the molecular geneticist Hailing Jin has built a body of work showing that warring organisms from two kingdoms of life—a plant and a fungus—exchange RNA in a form of informational warfare, with real biological effects. As researchers increasingly appreciate the ways RNA changes cell activity, they’ve studied strategies to use this mutable little molecule as an experimental tool, a disease treatment, and even the basis for the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine.
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