Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan has been awarded with the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.” The professor is currently at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
The Nobel Committee said in a statement while announcing the Prize in Stockholm, that the cell biologist “discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.”
The 1974 Medicine laureate, Christian de Duve, coined the term autophagy (meaning “self eating”) in 1963. "This concept emerged during the 1960s, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own contents by enclosing it in membranes, forming sack-like vesicles that were transported to a recycling compartment, called the lysosome, for degradation," the statement added.
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for discoveries concerning novel therapies against river blindness, lymphatic filariasis and malaria to William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Youyou Tu.
The Nobel Foundation said while describing autophagy that, “We now know that autophagy controls important physiological functions where cellular components need to be degraded and recycled. Autophagy can rapidly provide fuel for energy and building blocks for renewal of cellular components, and is therefore essential for the cellular response to starvation and other types of stress. After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading intracellular bacteria and viruses. Autophagy contributes to embryo development and cell differentiation. Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for counteracting the negative consequences of ageing.”
“Disrupted autophagy has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes and other disorders that appear in the elderly. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause genetic disease. Disturbances in the autophagic machinery have also been linked to cancer. Intense research is now ongoing to develop drugs that can target autophagy in various diseases.”
Also Read: Indian-origin teen wins Google Science Fair prize!
Nandini
