Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun win the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The two American scientists discovered microRNAs, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation.
His revolutionary discovery in the little worm C. elegans revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation, which turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.
His work helped explain how our genes function within the human body and how this leads to the development of the different tissues in our body.
The winners will share a prize of 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately US$1 million).
Genetic peculiarities
MicroRNAs are demonstrating their fundamental importance for the development and functioning of organisms.
All cells in the human body contain the same raw genetic information, locked in our DNA.
But despite starting from the same genetic information, the cells of the human body are very different in form and function.
The electrical impulses of nerve cells are different from the rhythmic beats of heart cells. The metabolic center that is a liver cell is different from a kidney cell that filters urea from the blood. The light-sensing ability of retinal cells is different from that of white blood cells that produce antibodies to fight infections.
All this variety can arise from the same starting material thanks to the genetic expression.
American scientists were the first to discover microRNAs and how they exert a control over how genes are expressed differently in different tissues.
Without the ability to control gene expression, every cell in an organism would be identical, so microRNAs helped enable evolution of complex life forms.
Abnormal regulation of microRNAs may contribute to cancer and diseases such as congenital hearing loss and bone disorders.
An example is DICER1 syndrome, which causes cancer in various tissues and is caused by mutations that affect microRNAs.
How it works
Ambros and Ruvkun investigated the nematode worm C. elegans.
They experimented with a mutant form of the worm that did not develop some types of cells.
And finally they found small fragments of genetic material or microRNA that were essential for the development of the worms.
This is how it works:
- Our DNA contains a gene or genetic instruction.
- Our cells make a copy, called messenger RNA or simply mRNA (you’ll remember this from the covid vaccines).
- This RNA leaves the cell’s nucleus and instructs the cell’s protein factories to start producing a specific protein.
- But microRNAs get in the way by attaching themselves to messenger RNA and stopping it from working.
- In essence, the mircoRNA has prevented the gene from being expressed in the cell.
Other works demonstrated that this is not a process exclusive to worms, but rather an essential component of life on Earth.
“His pioneering work on microRNA gene regulation paved the way for research into novel therapies for devastating diseases like epilepsy, but it also opened our eyes to the wonderful machinery that tightly controls what happens in our cells.”
The winners of the Medicine and Physiology prizes are chosen by the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded 114 times to 227 laureates between 1901 and 2023.
Last year, the award was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for the messenger RNA-based Covid vaccine.
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- Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023: what is the messenger RNA for which Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were awarded?