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The RNAi revolution

Nature volume 430, pages 161–164 (2004)Cite this article

The term RNAi — short for RNA interference — crops up again and again in biology research these days. This is in part because of its power as a laboratory tool, and in part because it is a widespread natural phenomenon.

Arguably the most important advance in biology in decades has been the discovery that RNA molecules can regulate the expression of genes. For years, RNAs were thought to have just two broad functions in cells. Single-stranded messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are vital intermediaries in gene expression, transmitting information between DNA and protein. Ribosomal and transfer RNAs have structural, catalytic and information-decoding roles in the process of protein synthesis.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Short interfering RNAs — post-transcriptional gene silencing.
Figure 3: MicroRNAs — translational silencing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cancer Research,

    Carl D. Novina & Phillip A. Sharp

  2. Department of Biology and the McGovern Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Carl D. Novina & Phillip A. Sharp

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  1. Carl D. Novina
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  2. Phillip A. Sharp
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Novina, C., Sharp, P. The RNAi revolution. Nature 430, 161–164 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/430161a

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