STOCKHOLM (TDI): American Scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024 for the discovery of microRNA.
They also explained the microRNA key role in multicellular organisms growth and how it lives.
Their discoveries help explain how complex life emerged on Earth and how the human body is made up of a wide variety of different tissues, BBC report said.
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They explained MicroRNAs influence on genes, the instructions for life, and how they are controlled inside organisms, including human being.
The US scientists were the first to discover microRNAs and how they exerted control on how genes are expressed differently in different tissues.
Every cell in the human body contains the same raw genetic information, locked in our DNA.
Yet, regardless of the identical genetic information, the cells of the human body are wildly different in form and function.
The report further explained that the electrical impulses of nerve cells are distinct from the rhythmic beating of heart cells.
Similarly, a liver cell is distinct to a kidney cell in form and function. The light-sensing abilities of cells in the retina are different in skillset to white blood cells that produce antibodies to fight infection.
These are the gene expression with numbers of variety, though, the same starting material.
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BBC reported that the medicine and physiology prize winners are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.
Citing the selectors the report added that the scientists’ groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.
It is now known that the human genome codes for over 1,000 microRNAs.
The winners share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor (£810,000).
