The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 was awarded today by the Nobel Foundation to three scientists “for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.”
From a statement by the Nobel Foundation:
This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry awards Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.
Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life.
The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes. Based upon the information in DNA, ribosomes make proteins: oxygen-transporting haemoglobin, antibodies of the immune system, hormones such as insulin, the collagen of the skin, or enzymes that break down sugar. There are tens of thousands of proteins in the body and they all have different forms and functions. They build and control life at the chemical level.
An understanding of the ribosome’s innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today’s antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics.
This year’s three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity’s suffering.
Link: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009…
Scientific Background on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE RIBOSOME (pdf)…
Press release: The ribosome translates the DNA code into life…
Image: The peptidyl-transferase center in the 50S ribosomal subunit is attacked by a large number of existing antibiotics, now revealed at high resolution in 50S subunit crystal structures. (Nobel Foundation)
P.S. On Friday we will be announcing the winners of our 2009 Guess-A-Nobel Contest…
