Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024

Recently, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

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Key Highlights

• Gene regulation is how a cell controls gene expression for the production of different proteins in the different parts of the body.
• Transcription: Conversion of DNA to mRNA.
• Translation: Conversion of mRNA to protein.

 

About microRNA

• It is a non coding RNA (single-stranded molecules playing a key role in turning DNA instructions into proteins).
• It controls gene expression by binding with mRNA and preventing them from being translated into the protein.

 

* Important Points to Remember

• Every cell contains the same genetic information, yet they behave differently.
• Differences among cells arise due to gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions. It means only the correct set of genes is active in each cell type.