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October 5, 2009, 10:30 pm
Nobel Prize for molecules of life!Today the Nobel Prize in medicine was announced for the discovery of how the chromosomes can be copied, shedding light on human ageing, cancer and stem cell development. [BBC News]
Source:
news.bbc.co.uk
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What was discovered?
Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak share this year's Prize for their work on how chromosomes divide.
Although the process of DNA replication has been studied for many years, there was a mystery why the chromosomes did not shorten every time they had to divide since the very tip of one of the DNA strands could not be copied... but this shortening should cause the cell to age very rapidly.
The end of the chromosome (which is made of DNA and protein) is called the telomere. It protects the end of the chromosome from destruction. Shortening of telomeres brings about ageing - but if the telomeres do not shorten, this can also be bad - cancer cells with long telomeres live forever!
Why is it important?
Discovering the enzyme telomerase and how it works to allow the telomeres to be copied successfully each time the DNA replicates was a major breakthrough, and has led to new approaches to treating cancer.
it is also very important in the study of ageing and in stem cell research.
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