It's a beautiful Sunday morning in Sunny South Fl. What better way to start off the morning than w/ the newspaper, a healthy breakfast, and a nice cup of decaf coffee lol :-). Anyways, I can't help but share w/ you an article that I found rather interesting while reading this morning's paper. It was about how 3 scientists won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for Ribosome research.
But...before I discuss their discovery, I figure I'd give you a brief overview of what a ribosome is. Now, a ribosome is a molecule consisting of protein and ribonucleic acid (RNA) that fit together and work as one to build proteins. Ribosomes are important b/c they serve as a site for protein synthesis. As you may know, proteins are the building blocks of cells and are an essential part of our overall health.
With that being said, the dynamic trio discovered how the information encoded on strands of DNA is translated into the thousands of proteins that make up living matter.
They accomplished this by working independently and using, among other things, the X-rays generated by powerful particle accelerators and prodigious computer calculations. In doing so, they were able to map the locations of the hundreds of thousands of atoms in the giant molecular complexes inside cells known as ribosomes. This work is important b/c it is being used to develop new antibiotics; for some antibiotics work by gumming up the ribosomes of bacteria, allowing those bacteria to be stopped at no danger to their host.
In addition, this work was used to resolve an old “classic chicken and egg problem” about evolution. The question that was posed: "If ribosomes are needed to make proteins but they are also made of proteins, which came first?" The answer is that the active core of the ribosome is made of RNA. The protein seems to have been added later, which means the ribosome is “an RNA-based machine that evolved the ability to make proteins.”
With that being said, I'm always happy when I read about a new medical discovery. I think this discovery in particular is great b/c I believe it will serve its purpose in terms of being a stepping stone in the development of new antibiotics. My hopes are that we can continue to make groundbreaking discoveries such as this and in return continue saving the lives of those in need. For in the end, life's most persistent question is: What are you doing to help others?
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