Reacción a "Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology awarded to Ambros and Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs and their role in gene regulation"

This year's Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology goes to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, for the discovery of microRNAs and their role in post-transcriptional regulation of genes. MicroRNAs, as their name suggests, are small RNA molecules of 20-22 nucleotides that bind by base complementarity to larger RNA molecules, such as the messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that code for each of our proteins. By binding, microRNAs regulate the stability and translation efficiency of mRNA, conditioning protein levels in the cell and, consequently, cell physiology. Regulation by microRNAs is very important for maintaining healthy physiology, and failures in this regulation can not only cause problems during embryonic development, but also contribute to diseases such as cancer.   

I am delighted that this year's Nobel Prize went to the discovery of microRNAs for two reasons.First, because they were discovered in the worm C. elegans, and it is yet another example of how basic science is so fundamental to the advancement of medicine, and why governments should fund basic science.Second, because together with previous Nobel Prizes, such as last year's to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for mRNA modifications that were essential for the development of vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic, they highlight the relevance of RNA and post-transcriptional regulation. These are good times for RNA!