‘We can soon unravel the mystery of human evolution’

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: Knowledge of genes is not just the key to unravel the mystery of human evolution. It is also a way to cure diseases arising out of genetic disorders and to prescribe suitable medicines catering to individual’s genetic makeup. Promoting this thought process is Roger Kornberg of Stanford University, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006, for his studies of how cells take information from genes to produce proteins. The work is important for medicine, because disturbances in that process are involved in illnesses like cancer, heart disease and various kinds of inflammation. And learning more about the process is the key to using stem cells to treat disease.

Roger won the Nobel Prize 47 years after his father Arthur Kornberg received it in 1959, in Physiology for his discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This was the sixth time when father and son have won Nobel Prizes. Roger Kornberg’s prize-winning work produced a detailed picture of what scientists call transcription in eukaryotes, the group of organisms that includes humans and other mammals. He shed light on how information is taken from genes and converted to molecules called messenger RNA. He was recently in India on the occasion of the 95th Indian Science Congress in Visakhapatnam in January, this year. In an interview with ASHOK B SHARMA, he discusses how the knowledge of genes will impact the future of medical therapy. Excerpts:

What is your take on the mechanism of life?

The DNA contains instructions for development and maintenance of a living organism. But DNA is alone and is silent and does nothing.

There is an inbuilt mechanism, which processes this information for development and maintenance of the organism. We successfully found the mechanism that processes this information.

Tell us something about this inbuilt mechanism?

The central component of the machinery is the RNA polymerase—it is a giant molecule of 30,000 atoms. In our work, we had been able to identify the precise location of these 30,000 atoms.

Then, we got a picture of the molecule in action, reading out the information in the DNA. This is otherwise called the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. Eukaryotes are an important group of organisms having a well-defined cell nuclei. The process of this transcription appears to be the basis of life.

The mechanism appears to be automatic. But is it perfect enough?

In some cases, the mechanism works perfectly well and there is no problem. But at times, it makes mistakes in cases of mutation, which may lead to some diseases. We need to know how these mistakes take place and how they are corrected. We are working on these aspects.

Do you mean that many of the diseases can be cured if the disorder in the mechanism is corrected?

Yes, particularly those based on genetic disorders. Not only that, once you know the genetic make up of an individual, the right type of medicine can be prescribed. Chromosomes are collectively called the genome. Human beings respond differently to different drugs. We can soon unravel the mystery of human evolution. If future genetic studies are taken up at a cost of $1,000 per person, it can be completed within five years.

Your father received the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1959. How were you inspired?