Two US scientists, Andrew Fire, Stanford University School of Medicine, and Craig Mello, University of Massachusetts Medical School, won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their research that discovered the fundamental mechanism that regulates the movement of genetic data in humans, animals and plants.
Our genome functions by sending instructions for the production of proteins from DNA in the nucleus of the cell to the protein synthesizing machinery in the cytoplasm. Messenger RNA (mRNA) transport the instructions. In 1998 Fire and Mello published their discovery of a mechanism that can degrade mRNA from a specific gene. The mechanism is called RNA interference.
RNA interference is crucial for the regulation of gene expression. It participates in the defence against viral infections, and keeps jumping genes in check. RNA interference is currently used extensively in basic science as a method to study gene function – this research should lead to new future therapies.
— Click here to see their work in more detail (Nobel Foundation Web Site)
— Andrew Fire Interview
— Craig Mello Interview
— The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006 – Announcement
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today