Washington, DC, USA. RNA interference (RNAi), a fundamental mechanism, inhibits gene expression during translation or hinders gene transcription. It targets RNA significant for some forms of our innate immune response, playing a key role in regulating development and genome maintenance.

The selective and robust effect on gene expression by RNAi makes it an essential research tool in cell culture and living organisms. Synthetic dsRNA in cells can induce suppression of specific genes. Large-scale screens that systematically shut down each gene in the cell use RNAi to help identify the components necessary for a particular cellular process or an event such as cell position.

However, this was a hard won understanding. Prior to 1998, there were a number of research findings, generally inconclusive and/or inconsistent, that were suggestive but non-definitive. What turned out to be RNA interference had been known by other names, including post transcriptional gene silencing, and quelling.

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Return to the RNAi World: Rethinking Gene Expression and Evolution While investigating the genetic workings of the microscopic worm, C. elegans, Craig C. Mello and colleague Andrew Fire, PhD, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, discovered RNAi, a natural but previously unrecognized process by which a certain form of RNA can be manipulated to silence — or interfere with — the expression of a selected gene. Mello and Fire were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006. The discovery, published in the journal Nature in 1998, has had two extraordinary impacts on biological science. • One is as a research tool: RNAi is now the state-of-the-art method by which scientists can knock out the expression of specific genes in cells, to thus define the biological functions of those genes. • But just as important has been the finding that RNA interference is a normal process of genetic regulation that takes place during development. RNAi has provided not only a powerful research tool for experimentally knocking out the expression of specific genes, but has opened a completely new and totally unanticipated window on developmental gene regulation. RNAi is now showing promise in the clinic as a new class of gene-specific therapeutics.

The accompanying video is of a Google Tech Talk session conducted by Craig C. Mello on 9 April 2007. Video and abstract courtesy of Google. Time: 01:08:54.

It took the findings from beautiful experiments, published in Nature (Citation, 1998), to clear up the confusion and set biology onto an important new path.

Craig C. Mello (b. 18 Oct 1960) and Andrew Z. Fire (b. 27 Apr 1959), of the Carnegie Institution of Washington [N1],  were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of RNA interference.

Mello and Fire had showed how RNA can be manipulated to interfere with — or silence — a selected gene's expression, effectively shutting down specific genes before they can produce proteins.

The word seminal applies here: this one piece of work opened up an enturely new field in biology, bringing on a revolution in our understanding of biological processes and regulation, including quality control feedback loops and the basis for anomalous birth conditions.

Craig Mello believes that "The science vs. religion debate is over" and that it is possible to "unite rationality and spirituality in a worldview that celebrates the mysteries of existence and inspires each human being to achieve a higher purpose in life".

The Nobel citation, issued by Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, said the Nobel Laureates "… discovered a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information."

Craig Mello revisited the subject of RNAi in a Google Tech Talk [N2]. Please refer to the sidebar for details and a video of the session.

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