Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been announced as winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Jonathan Nackstrand AFP via Getty Images
The winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine are as follows: Victor Ambrose and Gary Rubkun They discovered small pieces of RNA called microRNAs that play an important role in regulating gene activity in animals and plants.
The reason this is important is because a single microRNA can control many different genes. A single gene may be regulated by multiple microRNAs.
“The groundbreaking discovery of microRNAs has introduced new and unexpected mechanisms of gene regulation.” Ole CampeVice-Chairman of the Nobel Committee in Physiology or Medicine. “They are important for understanding embryological development, normal physiology, and diseases such as cancer.”
Ambros and Ruvkun made this discovery while studying mutant strains of nematodes. Caenorhabditis elegans. Their research began in the same laboratory in the 1980s. Ambros then moved to Harvard University and Ruvkun to Massachusetts General Hospital to continue studying mutant strains.
The instructions for making proteins are stored in the DNA in the cell’s nucleus. RNA copies of these instructions, called messenger RNA, carry this information to protein-making factories outside the nucleus. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, can consist of thousands of RNA letters.
One way to control gene activity is to stop producing mRNA in the first place. Another way is to prevent the mRNA from reaching the protein production factories. In both cases, the result is to disrupt the production of the protein encoded by the gene, or as biologists say, to switch off the gene.
MicroRNAs work in a second way. This is a small piece of RNA about 20 base pairs long whose sequence is complementary to part of one or more mRNAs. When a microRNA binds to the complementary sequence of an mRNA, that mRNA is typically degraded before a protein can be made.
MicroRNAs usually act within cells, but are sometimes released from cells to control activity elsewhere in the body. In some cases, organisms release microRNAs to control other organisms. This is usually done by disease-causing organisms, but one symbiotic fungus has recently been discovered that releases microRNAs that help it colonize tree roots.
Many groups are researching microRNA-based treatments, But nothing has been approved yet.. The presence or absence of microRNAs may also help diagnose certain medical conditions.
Ambros and Ruvkun first discovered microRNAs in research conducted in the 1990s. But what they found was Lin-4It controls only one gene, and the way it works has been assumed to be specific to nematodes. Because of this, their discovery received little attention.
In 2000, Ruvkun reported the discovery of another microRNA. Let’s-7. It controls five genes and has been found to be widespread in animals. This sparked great interest in microRNAs, and thousands of them have now been discovered in a variety of organisms.
Thomas PerlmanThe secretary-general of the Nobel Conference said he had not yet had contact with Ambrose, but had spoken with Rubkühn and his wife. “They were very happy to receive the award and to come to Stockholm,” Perlmann said.
The winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine are as follows: Catalin Carrico and Drew Wiseman This is to study how to adjust mRNA to avoid destruction by the immune system, which has been key to the development of mRNA vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
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