Scientists get first detailed look at Dicer

Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. A team of researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley used x-ray crystallography at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) to determine the crystal structure of Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in the process known as RNA interference. The Dicer enzyme is able to snip a double-stranded form of RNA into segments that can attach themselves to genes and block their activity.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news9868.html">Scientists get first detailed look at Dicer</a></p> <p>Scientists have gotten their first detailed look at the molecular structure of an enzyme that Nature has been using for eons to help silence unwanted genetic messages. A team of researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley used x-ray crystallography at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) to determine the crystal structure of Dicer, an enzyme that plays a critical role in the process known as RNA interference. The Dicer enzyme is able to snip a double-stranded form of RNA into segments that can attach themselves to genes and block their activity.</p>