Helpful Comments and Corrections from Readers

Slicer, Not Dicer

About my previous post, The “De-risking” of RNAi:

I am writing in response to your offering of April 3, 2006, on recent news in RNAi therapeutics.

Your piece was an excellent summary and very clear. I just have one nit to pick (as a biologist yourself, you know how we love to nit-pick).

Dicer is not the enzyme responsible for the siRNA-targeted destruction or silencing of the mRNA target. That action is provided by a complex enzymatic activity known as Slicer, which is the catalytic core of RISC, the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex. Slicer is minimally a strand of RNA from an siRNA or micorRNA (miRNA) bound to the protein Argonaute-2. The RNA serves to guide Slicer to its target by Watson-Crick pairing, while the Argonaute-2 protein has an RNase activity that cleaves the target mRNA.

Dicer is an RNA processing enzyme that is required for the natural production of siRNAs and mature miRNAs in the cell. Dicer is not directly required for the silencing activity — biological or therapeutic — of siRNAs.

Please excuse my presumption in offering this correction; you are an excellent science writer.

Dave Frendewey

Addendum: David did not identify himself further, but I Googled him; Dave is a senior scientist from Regeneron and an expert on RNAi.


Babelfish Translates German Blurbs

Brian D. suggested that I use Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com) to translate previously posted comments in German about my book, The Nanotech Pioneers: Where are they taking us? So here goes:

"An understandable introduction to the miniaturization efforts..." –Chemistry Report (Chemiereport.at)

"Defiance of the risk discussions beginning around the new technology concentrates Steve Edwards in its book not on horror - but on everyday life scenarios and the possible use for consumers and society... A recommendable work for interested consumers, journalists and decision makers."—Catalysis Environmental Journal (Katalyse Umweltjournal)

So there you have it in the King’s English.

Thanks, Brian. It’s not perfect but definitely an improvement.

If anybody has other questions or comments, please e-mail me at steven.alan.edwards@gmail.com.