Researcher

Sidney Altman

Profile

Sidney Altman was a Canadian-American molecular biologist at Yale University who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas Cech for the discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Altman's contribution was the discovery that the RNA component of ribonuclease P (RNase P) is the catalytic subunit responsible for the cleavage of precursor tRNA molecules. This demonstration that an RNA molecule could perform a specific enzymatic function—cleaving phosphodiester bonds—was independent of and complementary to Cech's findings, establishing RNA catalysis as a general principle of biochemistry rather than a single curiosity. The concept of ribozymes has had far-reaching implications for the RNA world theory, the understanding of ribosome function, and the development of RNA-based therapeutics. Altman also contributed to studies of the potential of RNase P-based approaches as antiviral agents. The broader field of RNA therapeutics—including siRNA, mRNA vaccines, antisense oligonucleotides, and RNA aptamers—owes its conceptual foundation partly to the demonstration by Cech and Altman that RNA is functionally versatile far beyond mere information transfer.

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