Discovery of MicroRNA by Sir Victor Ambros and Sir Gary Ruvkun Wins 2024 Nobel Prize
– The Nobel Assembly
Overview
- Sir Victor Ambros and Sir Gary Ruvkun – two American scientists.
- They discovered miRNA in the early 1990s.
- In 1993, Lee and Feinbaum, along with Victor Ambros, found the first miRNA.
- Its mode of action was described by Gary Ruvkun’s team.
- Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
- Past 3 yrs Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
Sir Victor Ambros and Sir Gary Ruvkun – two American scientists
School. He studied microRNAs and gene regulation at MIT under David Baltimore and H. Robert Horvitz. His postdoctoral work on developmental timing was influenced by Horvitz’s work.
They discovered miRNA in the early 1990s and Mode of Action (in brief).
In Horvitz’s lab, the genes lin-4 and lin-14 were found to be crucial for the development of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutations in these genes disrupt proper embryonic development.
Lin-4 controls larval development by repressing lin-14. Ambros discovered that lin-4 does not encode a protein but produces a short, non-coding RNA (~22 nucleotides) that inhibits lin-14 translation by binding to its mRNA. This inhibition affects larval development. Later, in 2000, the let-7 RNA was identified, repressing lin-41 to promote a later developmental stage in C. elegans.
Eventually, it was described as microRNA, which are tiny, non-coding, single-stranded RNA molecules
with 21–23 nucleotides. miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of
gene expression. They are found in plants, animals, and even some viruses.
These days, microRNAs are employed as delivery methods, therapeutic targets, diagnostic tools, etc.
Importance of miRNA
Subsequently, it was found that one miRNA can target many mRNAs, and that numerous miRNAs can target one mRNA.
The discovery of miRNAs in liquid biopsies enhances patient quality of life and personalized medicine. miRNA profiling reveals the epigenetic regulation of important pathways in type 2 diabetes (e.g., loss of miR-126 affects angiogenic signaling). MiRNAs are being studied as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and
prognosis due to their stability in bodily fluids and their disease-specific expression patterns, among other clinical implications of miRNAs.
Past 3 yrs Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded annually to recognize and encourage scientific achievement and to push the frontiers of human knowledge and health.
Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman – 2023 – for discovering mRNA-based vaccinations, which revolutionized the COVID-19 epidemic.
Svante Paabo – 2022 – in recognition of his research on the genomes of extinct hominins and the evolution of humans.
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian – 2021 – for discovering temperature and touch receptors.
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