Context
Medicine Nobel 2024 awarded to Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun for discovery of microRNA
About Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2024)
- Awarded to: Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun.
- Discovery: microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
About microRNA
- Definition: Small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression.
- Function: Binds to mRNA to prevent translation into proteins or degrades mRNA.
- Prevalence: Over a thousand microRNA genes exist in humans; regulation by microRNA is universal in multicellular organisms.
- Roles of microRNA
- Cellular Development: Regulates differentiation of stem cells and tissue/organ development.
- Immune Response: Modulates both innate and adaptive immune responses.
- Oncogenesis: Dysregulation can lead to cancer; miRNAs can also act as tumor suppressors.
- Disease Diagnostics: Serves as biomarkers for diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
Gene Regulation
- Definition: Process by which a cell controls which genes are expressed to produce specific proteins.
- Mechanism: Information flows from DNA to mRNA through transcription, followed by protein production.
- Result: Cells with identical DNA (e.g., muscle, nerve cells) express different proteins due to gene regulation, enabling specialized functions.
Source:
TH
Previous Year Question
‘Microsatellite DNA’ is used in the case of which one of the following?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2023 Prelims]
(a) Studying the evolutionary relationships among various species of fauna
(b) Stimulating ‘stem cells’ to transform into diverse functional tissues
(c) Promoting clonal propagation of horticultural plants
(d) Assessing the efficacy of drugs by conducting series of drug trials in a population
Answer: (a)
