RNAi is a big thing

I don't have much time but the discovery of RNAi could change medicine. It is a very ancient way organisms protect themselves from invading viruses that is totally separate from the normal immune system. Some viruses are made of two strands of RNA that are complementary and bind together in a double helix. The RNAi system finds such molecules and enzymatically destroys such a sequence wherever it is. Thus if one artificially inserts such a double stranded RNA then the system will destroy any single stranded RNA with that sequence. Most genes and viruses go through a single stranded phase. Thus to kill a virus you make a double stranded RNA containing part of the virus’s sequence and the RNAi system will destroy it resulting in no virus replication. The same thing applies to a gene. To turn off a gene to cure a genetic disease you would introduce a double stranded RNA with part of the sequence for that gene. To study any gene you would again make a double stranded RNA and have it inserted. The RNA from that gene would then be destroyed allowing one to better understand the normal function of the gene. The beauty of this technique is that it can be used anywhere and bypasses the normal immune system. So organisms and viruses that can get around the normal immune system can be attacked by RNAi. Thus we will have another tool to fight disease and genes that make a bad product.