Gene silencers: Wang and Waterhouse's research has been used to produce antibodies in plants that treat human disease.

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SYDNEY: CSIRO scientists have won the Australian Prime Minister's Science Prize for the discovery of a gene silencing mechanism in plants that has had far-reaching benefits in agriculture and medicine.

The pair, Peter Waterhouse and Ming-Bo Wang, both scientists at CSIRO's Division of Plant Industry, found that double-stranded RNA could turn down or switch off the activity of certain plant genes.

Gene silencing uses 'short interfering RNAs' to stymie messenger RNA's ability to deliver genetic instructions within cells. Because the mechanism works to switch off a single gene at a time, it can also be used to elucidate its function.

"On to something big"

They made the discovery in 1997 at a similar time to a U.S. team, who discovered how to silence genes in animals. The U.S. team went on to be awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for medicine for their efforts.

Waterhouse and Wang developed the technique to protect agricultural plants, such as wheat and barley from viruses, which can decimate 15 to 25 per cent of a crop. Scientists have since found that the gene silencing mechanism also works in humans, animals, and insects.

"Once we found the gene silencing mechanism we knew we were onto something big. We felt confident that if we could learn how to direct it, we would be able to control different types of plant genes for different purposes," Waterhouse said. "We've worked to improve the efficiency of our technology, making it an extremely precise, rapid and user-friendly tool for identifying genes and their function."

Wang added that the technology is being used "to develop oilseeds with a high omega-3 content and wheat with high levels of resistant starch, both of which are important for human health."

"Enormous impact"

The gene silencing technique has also attracted interest from international governments, he said. China has implemented the technology to protect crops from the devastating rice strip virus and the U.S. has used gene silencing to make antibodies in plants for the treatment of human diseases, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

"This is a wonderful recognition for a discovery that has made an enormous impact, not only in plant sciences, but also potentially in human disease. The discovery is now part of the textbooks and part of every laboratory's tool kit - a very innovative piece of science," said eminent plant geneticist Adrienne Clarke of the University of Melbourne.

The awards will be presented this evening, in Canberra. The pair will each receive half of the A$300,000 prize money. The award is presented annually to Australian scientists who promote human welfare through an outstanding achievement in science or technology.