The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2007 was awarded to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their research on RNA interference. RNA interference is a mechanism for control of gene expression inside cells. This diagram shows how an anti-sense RNA (the yellow strand in this diagram) targets destruction of complementary mRNA (orange strand). The active site of the enzyme that cuts the mRNA has the amino acid sequence amino acids Asp-Asp-His (DDH) at the active site.
Medical interventions that activate the RNA interference are being studied as possible future treatments of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases.
