Have you ever had the problem that an apple is too big for a person to eat, and the remaining half, whether it is placed in the refrigerator or wrapped in plastic wrap, can not stop it from changing color, and the apple that looks not fresh makes people lose their appetite.
In 2017, the United States launched an Apple, and he had a magical function - it did not change color.
Image source: hippopx
Apples quickly brown under the catalysis of polyphenol oxidase, and scientists use RNA interference technology to inactivate the genes responsible for producing polyphenol oxidase in apples, thereby cultivating apples that do not change color for a long time. So, who discovered the amazing technology of RNA interference?
In his sleep, he learned that he had won the Nobel Prize
The RNA interference mechanism was first proposed by two American scientists named Andrew Fall and Craigmelo, who announced this great discovery by publishing a paper in the journal Nature, the top journal of science.
Andrew Fall was born in Santa Clara County, California, in 1959 and graduated from MIT. Fall and Merlot also won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology for their discovery of the mechanism of RNA interference.
Andrew Fall, Image source: Wikipedia
When the Nobel Committee called to inform him of the award, Andrew Fall picked up the phone in his sleep due to the jet lag between Sweden and the United States.
In a follow-up interview with the media, Fall said: "At first I couldn't believe it, I may have been dreaming, or the Nobel Committee made a wrong call, and most gratefully the work was recognized" Until Farr saw the news of his award on the Internet, he was sure that all this was true.
He and his friend Melo had expected that research on the flow of genetic information might one day win the Nobel Prize, but that would be 10 or 20 years from now, but he didn't expect that moment to come so quickly. In a telephone interview with a Reuters reporter, Farr frankly shared the reason why he was "surprised" by the award.
Farr specifically pointed out that behind the results with Merlot, it is also inseparable from the efforts of other researchers in the research group, "including the creation of infrastructure, basic theories, so that we can get involved in this field and engage in experiments to achieve results."
This great discovery has opened up a new field of research that promises to inhibit or dormant specific genes in plants, animals and humans, curbing the effects of harmful viruses and genetic variants.
What is RNA interference
RNA interference, abbreviated RNAi, is a gene silencing phenomenon widely present in eukaryotes, a biological process by which RNA molecules inhibit gene expression or translation by neutralizing targeted mRNA molecules.
Scientists first discovered the secret of RNA interference in the study of dwarf morning glory, a scientist introduced the gene that can produce violet pigment into the morning glory flower, hoping to deepen its color, but failed to see the expected dark purple flower, the petals instead formed many white spots, and even some completely turned white.
In subsequent studies, it was found that this phenomenon was the result of RNA interference causing the simultaneous suppression of imported pigment genes and similar endogenous genes.
At the heart of the RNA interference mechanism are two small ribonucleic acid molecules (which can be called small RNA), namely microribonucleic acid (miRNA) and small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA). RNA is a direct product of genes, and these small RNAs induce enzyme complexes to degrade messenger RNA (mRNA) to silence genes. It can be simply understood that in the process of sending an email, the email is destroyed.
Why is RNA interference one of the greatest discoveries in the life sciences in recent years?
Since RNA interference was shown to play a role in regulating gene expression, RNA interference has begun to show great potential in many ways, and is considered a precise, stable and efficient gene transplantation technology.
In recent years, whether you think that the quality of fruits is getting better and better, in addition to the maturity of breeding technology, a large reason comes from the impact of RNA interference technology on breeding.
This technology can improve the tolerance of crops to adverse environments or improve nutritional value, adjust photosynthetic efficiency, and regulate plant growth cycles.
It is even possible to accurately make some genes unexpressed, such as cigarettes without nicotine, coffee without caffeine, mangoes without allergens, and so on. Of course, these foods also need to be tested for safety before they can flow into the market.
It is more widely used in the field of medicine, and is used to treat cancer, viral infections, neurological diseases, etc.
Traditional chemotherapy can be effective in killing cancer cells, but chemotherapy drugs lack specificity when distinguishing between normal cells and cancer cells, and can have serious side effects. Many studies have shown that RNA interference can inhibit tumor growth by targeting cancer-associated genes.
In addition, RNA interference can enhance the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemotherapy drugs, providing a combination therapy combined with chemotherapy. Another potential therapy is to use RNA interference to inhibit the infiltration and metastasis of cancer cells. Most of the current clinical research on RNA interference has focused on cancer treatment, but the potential clinical applications are wide-ranging.
Although people have only been studying RNA interference for more than a decade, progress has been rapid. It can be said that RNA interference is a eukaryotic cell gene expression regulation system centered on small molecular RNA, which can regulate gene expression and cell proliferation and differentiation at multiple levels, and the study of RNA interference will make people's understanding of life phenomena more in-depth.
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