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cells, and they perform numerous functions within these cells. Life hinges on the ability of DNA to produce proteins.
• When a cell wants to make a protein, it activates a particular gene. When the cell wants to stop making a protein, it turns the gene off using various methods. One way that cells turn a gene off is by sending in a small fragment of

RNA that suppresses the gene's expression into a protein. This process is called RNA interference, or RNAi.
• The implications of RNAi (which was only discovered 15 years ago) are enor

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