Transcript for Tom Cech Interview - What did you receive the Nobel Prize for?

Prior to our studies, there had been some speculation that...

...perhaps RNA could be doing more than just serving as a messenger.

The traditional view is that DNA stores information...

...that information is transferred into an RNA transcript...

...which then serves as a message...

...and encodes the order of amino acids that are laid down in a protein...

...and that DNA is the important informational molecule...

...that protein is the molecule that’s all the enzymes and the cellular structures -

– proteins sort of doing all the work –

and RNA is just a passive intermediate in this process.

Instead, we found something very different and I think now very exciting,

because there are so many more examples,

which is that we found the first example where an RNA molecule...

...could itself perform a chemical reaction.

So the RNA, and the particular reaction was RNA splicing,

folds up into a particular, three-dimensional structure that then catalyzes cutting...

...and rejoining of chemical bonds within the RNA to remove an intron...

...and restore a sequence of RNA which is then useful for the cell.

So this turned out to be a change in the concept:

RNA not just an intermediate in a pathway, but instead RNA by itself could be...

...performing reactions in the cell.