Phenomenal RNA Interference: From Mechanism to Application

The phenomenon of dsRNA-mediated interference (RNAi), was first demonstrated in nematodes in 1998 by Professor Andrew Z. Fire at Stanford University, California, USA and Professor Craig C. Mello at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, USA. It is thought to have evolved as a type of “genetic immune system” to protect organisms from the presence of foreign or unwanted genetic material. To be more specific, RNAi probably evolved as a mechanism to block the replication of viruses and/or to suppress the movements of transposons within the genome, because both of these potentially dangerous processes typically involve the formation of dsRNA intermediates. Cells can recognize dsRNAs as “undesirable” because such molecules are not produced by the cell’s normal genetic activities.