"...The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) goes back more than 10 years to experiments on petunia plants but the name was coined in 1998 when scientists showed that the technique of gene "silencing" applied to nematode worms. Earlier this year scientists demonstrated that RNAi worked on mammalian cells, including those of humans.
"Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is closely related to DNA, the molecule of inheritance, and it performs various functions, including acting as a "messenger" by carrying genetic instructions from the chromosomes of the cell's nucleus to the protein factories of the cell's cytoplasm, the region outside the nucleus. "Scientists have been astonished to find that there is a type of double-stranded RNA that selectively blocks these messages, thus "silencing" a gene on a chromosome without actually interfering with the DNA of the gene directly. They called this RNA interference...." http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=330876 Potentially this will help treat HIV and some cancers. Debbi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
