Review
Gene Silencing by Double-Stranded RNA (Nobel Lecture)†
Andrew Z. Fire Dr.,
Andrew Z. Fire Dr.
Departments of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room L235, Stanford, CA 94305-5324, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAndrew Z. Fire Dr.,
Andrew Z. Fire Dr.
Departments of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Room L235, Stanford, CA 94305-5324, USA
Search for more papers by this author†
Copyright© The Nobel Foundation 2006. We thank the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, for permission to print this lecture.
Graphical Abstract
Shhh! Gene silencing is a cell process in which the action of double-stranded RNA molecules suppresses the expression of single genes. Decisive contributions to this area have been made by Andrew Fire and Craig C. Mello, for which they have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The Nobel Laureates describe here first hand their research.
Abstract
I would like to thank the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute for the opportunity to describe some recent work on RNA-triggered gene silencing. First a few disclaimers, however. Telling the full story of gene silencing would be a mammoth enterprise that would take me many years to write and would take you well into the night to read. So we'll need to abbreviate the story more than a little. Second (and as you will see) we are only in the dawn of our knowledge; so consider the following to be primer …︁ the best we could do as of December 8th 2006. And third, please understand that the story that I am telling represents the work of several generations of biologists, chemists, and many shades in between. I'm pleased and proud that work from my laboratory has contributed to the field, and that this has led to my being chosen as one of the messengers to relay the story in this forum. At the same time, I hope that there will be no confusion of equating our modest contributions with those of the much grander RNAi enterprise.
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