The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for the discoverers of micro-rna

Medical and the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology will receive Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun. They are US nationals and work in the US.

Ambros and Ruvkyn discovered micro-rna and have described its role in gene regulation of the human DNA strand.

The code of the micro-rna is located in the DNA band of the chromosomes. The information stored in the chromosomes can be compared to the usage of all the cells in our body.

Micro-RNAs are approxaccording to their name, short RNAs with an average length of 22 bases.

More than two thousand of them are known to humans. Micro-rna genes do not directly code for proteins. They are the best known group of gene subtypes that do not code for proteins.

Every a cell contains the same chromosomes, so each cell contains exactly the same genes and exactly the same instructions.

However, different cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, have very different properties. How do these differences arise?

The answer lies in gene regulation. It allows each cell to select only the instructions relevant to it, says the Nobel Foundation’s press release. This ensures that only the correct genes are active in each cell type.

Ambros and Ruvkun were interested in how different cell types develop.

This is how they discovered micro-rna, which revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation. It turned out that it is necessary for multicellular organisms, including humans.

Mikro-rna:t have proven to be essential for the development and functioning of organisms. They participate in many physiological functions of humans and other organisms, for example embryonic development, cell growth and metabolism.

of micro-RNAs the main task is to regulate the activity of messenger RNA. When this microRNA binds to the messenger RNA in a precisely defined region, it is either degraded or functions incorrectly.

Disturbed micro-rna function plays a role in the development of many diseases. These include, for example, cardiovascular diseases, immunological diseases and cancer.

Micro-RNAs can erroneously regulate genes that protect against cancer or oncogenes that promote cancer growth.

Aberrantly expressed micro-RNAs are useful prognostic and treatment efficacy biomarkers in cancer, and they offer targets for cancer treatment, says Duodecim magazine.

Tuesday will be awarded the Nobel prize for physics and on Wednesday for chemistry.

The value of the award this year is 11 million Swedish kronor, or just under 970,000 euros. If there are several recipients, the amount will be divided.

Correction Tuesday, October 8 at 9:40 am: Micro-RNAs are not located on the DNA strand of chromosomes, but are encoded on the DNA strand of chromosomes. They are one group of subtypes of genes, not DNA, that do not code for proteins. 2:10 p.m.: Replaced the word dna with the word protein in this sentence: They are the best-known group of subtypes of genes that do not code for proteins.