/sci/ - Science & Math

>>14814951
We know a lot about what non-coding RNA does. Some of it forms part of the ribosome - the structure which is responsible for actually translating coding-RNA. Transfer RNAs are another non-coding RNA involved in this process - they bind amino acids and present them to the ribosome for translation.
Several different kinds of ncRNAs work to regulate the translation of proteins by binding to mRNAs and either blocking their translation or catalysing their degradation. One of the ways in which those RNAs are stopped when they are not needed is via the transcription of yet another type of ncRNA which competes for binding with them; preventing them from repressing translation.
Others bind to chromatin; the stuff which packages DNA in the nucleus. This changes chromatin conformation and makes particular genes more or less open for transcription.
All these different ways to affect the level of transcription and translation of different genes is what allows the morphogens to 'know where to go', as OP asked.
Some of it probably is just junk, though.