One more Nobel for research on RNA

Oeiras, 07 October 2024

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to researchers Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work that led to the discovery of microRNAs and a new mechanism of gene regulation.
 
One more Nobel for research on RNA
Rute Matos and Cecília Arraiano 

We could not have imagined that, for the second year in a row, research in the field of RNA biology would once again be awarded a Nobel Prize. Today's recognition of researchers Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun reinforces the idea that basic science is the driving force behind scientific progress. 

For many years, RNA molecules were seen only as cellular intermediates whose sole purpose was to produce proteins. It wasn't until the 1980s that the first RNA molecule that did not produce proteins was described in bacteria, and it took another decade to discover that the same thing happened in higher organisms. In 1993, Ambros and Ruvkun, using the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans, discovered the existence of small non-coding RNAs, which they called microRNAs, and also discovered a new mechanism of gene regulation. These microRNAs bind to messenger RNAs, with which they have a certain complementarity, and are able to regulate protein production. This was a revolutionary discovery, revealing the ability of cells to control the expression of their genes, activating or silencing the production of a particular protein. 

Today we know that this form of regulation is conserved in most higher organisms, with implications for the development of various diseases, including various forms of cancer and even cardiovascular diseases. This knowledge now allows us to open up new possibilities for RNA-based therapies.

This discovery has challenged the central dogma of biology by showing that other forms of RNA can alter the expression of what is encoded by DNA. This changed the way we perceive molecular biology and personalized therapies.

The award of three Nobel Prizes in the field of RNA in five years (in 2020 to Doudna and Charpentier for the discovery of CRISPR RNA, in 2023 to Karikó and Weissman for messenger RNA vaccines and in 2024 to Ambros and Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs) once again demonstrates how important basic RNA research is in the development of new useful tools in the fields of biomedicine.