Molecular scissors: RNA enzymes go commercial
When Thomas Cech of the University of Colorado discovered in 1982 that RNA can act as an enzyme, catalyzing specific biological reactions, the result surprised molecular biologists. Only proteins, they thought, could act as enzymes. The work not only led to a Nobel Prize for Cech, it prompted prophecies of a new kind of genetic engineering - one based on RNA instead of the conventional DNA. Foreign governments launched research efforts, and researchers scrambled to file patents. The stakes were so high that American and Australian researchers became embroiled in a dispute over patent rights for catalytic RNA. Last week the US Patent Office awarded Cech and the University of Colorado an unusually broad patent for the use and synthesis of enzymatic RNA - also known as ribozymes. The significance of the patent stems from Cech's unexpected observation that preribosomal RNA can cut and splice itself, removing sequences not needed for biological function.
- OSTI ID:
- 5604993
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 251:4993; ISSN 0036-8075
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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