关于签名支持姜淳教授同时提名2008诺贝尔化学奖和医学生理学奖的倡议书-九指神丐
Although the purpose of this paper is to confirm a well accept function of Kir6.2 gene, the figure contains at least two major breakthroughs:
1. mRNA without poly A tail will not be degraded but accumulate to detectable amount
One of the basic concepts is that the function of poly A tail of mRNA is protecting the mRNA from degradation. It can be find in any undergraduate textbook or encyclopedia. Numerous papers cite the
This paper used solid evidences (Northern Blot and PCR result) proved that a fragment without poly A tail (364bp in figure) could be so stable that it will accumulate to detectable amount (ng or billions of molecules?). From the Northern Blot result, we can find that it seems the fragment band is so clear that there is no degradation at all.
Dr. Thomas Cech won Noble prize of chemistry in 1989 for his finding the mechanism of catalytic RNA and all the researchers in this field are misleaded by his theory that ribozyme will trigger the degradation of mRNA. Now we can get the conclusion that a brand new theory will replace the dated one and modern biology will begin a new era. Although Dr. Jiang is too moderate to make it a new theory, his experiment design was completely based on a brand new concept.
Maybe it is a small step to Dr. Jiang, but it is really a big one to the human being. The nomination of Dr. Chun Jiang for Noble prize of chemistry is unavoidable.
2. Partially degraded mRNA will stop at 1.5kb
Because mRNA is very unstable and even unavoidable degrade during preparation, sometimes is very difficult to get a full-length transcript. For the gene Dr. Jiang studied, there are several cDNAs in different length reported in genebank.
Rattus norvegicus mRNA for ATP-sensitive K+ channel subunit Kir6.2, complete cds
(gi:1655429 3305bp) , (gi:8096670 2227bp), (gi:1322028 1290bp)
In this figure, Dr. Jiang presented a surprising finding that the mRNA can be controlled at a certain degradation level such as 1486bp. That is not one or two molecular but all the mRNA stay at the same level. (Northern blot result)
This finding will be a most important milestone in modern biology. All the theory about gene expression will be modified. Comparing with previous Noble prize, this finding should be a very significant one. So it should nominate to Noble prize of medicine and physiology at the same time.
3. Dr. Robin Morris (robinmorris@gsu.edu Telephone: (404) 651-1637), the vice president of Georgia State University, is now defaming the great achievement because it could not be replicated by a third party. That is completely based on his discrimination. No everyone can be peerless scientist like Dr. Jiang. He said it is wrong data caused by wrong probe. It is unbelievable, unless Dr. Morris can replicate the result by a wrong probe.
4. Office of Research Integrity (http://ori.dhhs.gov,), a federal agency, even doubted it as misconduct. Two years passed, no conclusion was made. It is really weird. Please write (email: AskORI@hhs.gov) or call (tel: 240-453-8800) them to express your concern about this case.
FIG. 2. Analysis of Kir6.2 mRNA expression in RINm5F cells transfected with Kir6.2-ribozyme. A, Schematic of the cleaved Kir6.2 mRNA with indications of each fragment. The riboprobe used in the Northern analysis covered both the coding sequence and 5'UTR. Primers 1 and 2 used in RT-PCR analysis were expected to lead to a 483-bp PCR product when Kir6.2 mRNA was intact. B, Northern blot analysis revealed two bands of about 360 and 1,500 bp in the ribozyme-treated cells (lane 1) and only one band of approximately 1500 bp in cells treated with vector alone (lane 2). Note that the 360-bp band has a higher intensity than the 1500-bp band in the left lane. C, RT-PCR analysis showed a 483-bp band in cells treated with vector alone (lane 6). Such a band became less intense in cells exposed to the Kir6.2-ribozyme in a dose of 2 x 106 pfu/dish (lane 7) and 8 x 106 pfu/dish (lane 8). Control experiments were performed with GAPDH showing a 842-bp fragment that remained the same under above conditions (lanes 2–4). Control experiments were also performed by looking at DNAs without reverse transcriptase. The lack of stain indicates that all DNAs are degraded by deoxyribonuclease, and there is no DNA contamination in the RT-PCR system (lanes 5 and 9).
References:
1. This figure published in Endocrinology 2004 Vol. 145, No. 9 4408-4414 (RINm5f is a rat cell line)
2. Dr. Jiang’s another paper (Journal of Physiology (London), 2002 543, 495-405) focus on mouse Kir6.2 study cited a mouse cDNA at 1486bp (D50581, 1486 bp)