Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun separately found that analyzing the tiny nematode worm C “elegans” revealed that RNA sequences play a crucial role in determining whether specific genes are translated into proteins that perform key activities of life.
Olle Kampe, chair of the Nobel Prize Committee, stated, “Their ground-breaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.”
Until their discovery, transcription factors—large proteins that determine which genes get translated from DNA into their sister molecule—were considered to be the only way life regulated gene expression.
According to Mr. Kampe, the discovery of microRNA was once considered “an oddity peculiar to a small worm”.
However, as demonstrated by Mr. Ambros and Mr. Ruvkun, microRNA is present in almost all complex life forms and is essential for controlling an organism’s behavior.
not to mention when they malfunction. Now, it has been established that mistakes in microRNA are the root cause of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a form of blood cancer.
