Editing Portal:Life Sciences/Selected picture

[[Image:MRNA destruction complex.png|thumb|right|200px|[[w:Argonaute|Argonaute]]-containing RNA destruction complex. Image source: [[:Image:MRNA destruction complex.png|Leemor Joshua-Tor]].]]
The [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for 2007 was awarded to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello for their research on [[RNA interference]]. RNA interference is a mechanism for control of [[Gene Regulation in Eukaryotes|gene expression]] inside [[Topic:Cell Biology|cells]]. This diagram shows how an anti-sense RNA (the yellow strand in this diagram) targets destruction of complementary [[w:mRNA|mRNA]] (orange strand). The active site of the [[w:enzyme|enzyme]] that cuts the mRNA has the amino acid sequence [[w:List of standard amino acids|amino acids]] Asp-Asp-His (DDH) at the active site.

Medical interventions that activate the RNA interference are being studied as possible future treatments of [[w:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis|Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]] and other neurodegenerative diseases.