47 years after father, son wins a Nobel, too

时间：2006-10-05 07:08:55

（单词翻译:单击）


American scientist Arthur Kornberg (R) receives the Nobel Prize in medicine from King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, in Stockholm, December 1959. Roger Kornberg has won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for work on a key process of life called genetic2 transcription, building on Nobel prizewinning discoveries by his own father, Arthur. (File/AFP)
 
Oct. 5 - Following a kind of family tradition, Dr. Roger D. Kornberg of Stanford University School of Medicine won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for showing how genes3 convey their messages in cells to copy functions like making proteins.

 

The Nobel Prize committee cited Dr. Kornberg, 59, for visually showing how information encoded in a cell’s DNA4 blueprint5 is read and duplicated into what is called messenger RNA. This messenger RNA, in turn, takes the information out of the nucleus6 to outer areas of the cell where it is used to construct proteins that control cell functions.

 

This is the second time this week the Nobel Prizes have recognized the growing importance of RNA, which is swiftly emerging from the shadows of its better-known cousin DNA. On Monday, the prize in medicine was awarded to two American biologists for discoveries that opened the field known as RNA interference, or gene1 silencing.

 

It was also the first time since 1983 that Americans had swept all three scientific Nobels, in medicine, physics and chemistry.

 

Dr. Kornberg, who said he was “simply stunned” by the award, is the son of Dr. Arthur Kornberg, who shared the Nobel in medicine in 1959 for his work in DNA information transfer. The Kornbergs are the sixth father and son to win Nobel Prizes.

 

The younger Dr. Kornberg said that while others suggested he might win the prize this year, he viewed it as “improbable.”

 

But the elder Dr. Kornberg, 88, said he was not entirely7 surprised. “I’m disappointed it’s been so long in coming,” he said with a smile at a Stanford news conference.

 

The process of copying and transferring information stored in genes, called transcription, is the key to keeping organisms from yeast8 to humans alive and functioning. Disturbances9 in the transcription process are involved in an array of human illnesses, including cancer, heart disease and inflammation.

 

Dr. Kornberg said in an interview that his work had already influenced the development of drugs and therapies for various conditions, and that understanding how transcription works was central to research that hoped to use stem cells to cure diseases like diabetes10.

 

Dr. Kornberg, who graduated from Harvard in 1967 and received his doctorate11 from Stanford in 1972, has spent most of his career in biological chemistry.

 

Much of his work has focused on an enzyme12 called RNA polymerase, which makes messenger RNA and controls the process of selecting certain genes from the thousands that make up DNA to duplicate at any one time. Dr. Kornberg’s research groups characterized how RNA polymerase played a central role in the transcription process by hooking on to certain parts of the DNA chain and making RNA that produced exactly the protein a cell needed at the time.

 

The Nobel committee said that Dr. Kornberg did fundamental work over 20 years on how the information stored in genes is copied and transferred to other parts of the cell. The committee also said he was the first to create pictures of that process. Using a method called X-ray crystallography, he was able to have a computer assemble freeze-frame images of the enzyme at work.

 

“We’ve completed the central part of the puzzle,” he said. “Now we want to create a moving picture of the process from beginning to end.”

 

Dr. Jeremy M. Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, said that honoring Dr. Kornberg showed the importance of taxpayer-supported basic research not focusing on a specified13 goal. The institute has financed Dr. Kornberg’s work since 1979, even when it was unclear whether the research would be successful, Dr. Berg said.

 

Dr. Kornberg, who said he had vivid memories of visiting Stockholm as a 12-year-old to see his father receive his Nobel, said the $1.4 million award should not mean a big change in his family’s lives.

 

“On the salary of a professor, I have mostly debts that will be settled after paying lots of taxes,” he said. “Then I’ll probably replace my 20-year-old automobile14. I don’t see much after that.”

 

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1 gene WgKxx     
n.遗传因子，基因
参考例句：
  • A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
  • The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。
2 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的，遗传学的
参考例句：
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
3 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
n.基因( gene的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
4 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句：
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
5 blueprint 6Rky6     
n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划
参考例句：
  • All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
  • The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。
6 nucleus avSyg     
n.核，核心，原子核
参考例句：
  • These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
  • These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。
7 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地
参考例句：
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
8 yeast 7VIzu     
n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫
参考例句：
  • Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
  • The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。
9 disturbances a0726bd74d4516cd6fbe05e362bc74af     
n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍
参考例句：
  • The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
  • Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。
10 diabetes uPnzu     
n.糖尿病
参考例句：
  • In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
  • Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。
11 doctorate fkEzt     
n.(大学授予的)博士学位
参考例句：
  • He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
  • Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？
12 enzyme cPozF     
n.酵素，酶
参考例句：
  • Above a certain temperature,the enzyme molecule will become unfolded.超过一定温度，酶分子将会展开。
  • An enzyme that dissolves the fibrin of blood clots.能溶解血凝块中的纤维的酶。
13 specified ZhezwZ     
adj.特定的
参考例句：
  • The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
  • It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
14 automobile rP1yv     
n.汽车，机动车
参考例句：
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

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