RNA interference: investigating genes and their function
In the 1990s, scientists at several research institutions discovered that the activity of genes in a cell is significantly influenced by small RNA molecules that until then had largely been neglected by research.
In 2001, Prof. Dr Thomas Tuschl and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen were able to analyse the structure of these double-stranded RNA molecules (small interfering RNAs, siRNAs, 19–23 base pairs) and to demonstrate for the first time the functioning of these molecules in mammalian cells. siRNAs can be used for the targeted deactivation of genes, and this method of so-called RNA interference (RNAi) is now used all over the world, for example, to study the mode of action of genes in cell culture and animal models.
Rapid progress is also being made in developing therapeutic applications of RNAi. In several clinical trials, siRNAs have led to first therapeutic successes in humans.
