RNAi may just be the key to curing some of the most harmful diseases that afflict mankind. The discovery of RNAi is revolutionizing thoughts on the treatment and progressive outcome of many illnesses and genetic maladies because it addresses the root cause of the problem and simply like a light switch turns it off. The amazing thing about the study of RNAi is that it all started with a flower.

Not long ago, a geneticist was brought into a company that wanted to produce a darker purple Petunia. The result would sell better, and be a financial winner for the company. Rich Jorgenson thought that if he simply added another “purple gene” to the Petunia plant, then it would produce darker purple flowers. To his amazement the plant then produced all white flowers. How can this be? What he then discovered is a process that may change medicine forever.

What is RNAi? According to

Wilkipedia: Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a nucleic acid polymer consisting of covalently bound nucleotides. RNA nucleotides contain ribose rings and uracil unlike deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which contains deoxyribose and thymine. It is transcribed from DNA by enzymes called RNA polymerases and further processed by other enzymes. RNA serves as the template for translation of genes into proteins, transferring amino acids to the ribosome to form proteins, and also translating the transcript into proteins.

The i in RNAi stands for interference. So basically RNA is the checker that tells the cell what it can copy. It proof reads bits of genetic code.

So why is this important? As with the study of the Petunia, the RNA saw that a piece of genetic code was wrongly duplicated. The “purple code”, had been duplicated, and the RNA saw this as a mistake. It did this because it follows simple rules. Many diseases give the cell bad genetic information and the RNA fails to recognize it. However, by following the principles of RNAi, geneticists can introduce a twin code, which would cause the RNA to react as it should, rejecting the bad code and thus eliminating the disease. Of course this “nutshell” explanation is overly simplified, but I think it gives you the general idea behind the incredible implications behind RNAi therapy. There is a lot of great info and a segment of the original NOVA broadcast here.

Tags: cure RNAi Science medicine