NEWS OF THE WEEK
BILL BUOYS SCIENCE FUNDING CONGRESS: Fiscal 2007 budget bill favors science agencies
S Congress is expected to finally approve a fiscal 2007federal budget four months after the start of the fiscal year.
CIENCE AGENCIES, including NIH and NSF, are slated to get significant funding increases in legislation proposed by Democratic leaders to complete the federal budget for fiscal 2007. The House passed the bill on Jan. 31 with bipartisan support, and the Senate is expected to pass it soon. The measure (H J. Res. 20) is a compromise worked out by the Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate after the Democrats announced that they would not reconsider the nine 2007 appropriations bills that Congress failed to pass last year but would instead keep the budget, with a few adjustments, at fiscal 2006 levels. Some of those funding adjustments favor science agencies. NIH will receive an increase of $620 million, a 2% rise, to $28.9 billion under the bill. This allows the agency to fund an additional 500 research grants and
sets aside $483 million to begin the "common fund" for interdisciplinary projects, as required by the 2006 NIH reauthorization bill. NSF is to get an 8% increase, or $335 million, to $4.7 billion. This increase is about what President George W. Bush proposed for the agency a year ago. Also, laboratory programs at the National Institute of Standards 8c Technology would receive a $50 million increase for physical science programs and nanotechnology research. At the Department of Energy, the budget resolution would increase funding at the Office of Science by $200 million to about $3.8 billion to support research on energy technologies. The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency 8c Renewable Energy Resources would get a $300 million boost to $1.5 billion to accelerate its R8cD activities. The Administration had a mixed reaction to the budget bill. While praising the efforts to eliminate most congressional earmarks from the budget, the White House Office of Management 8c Budget complained that some programs, such as the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and much of the American Competitiveness Initiative to support physical sciences and engineering, had been shortchanged. Despite these misgivings, the White House has indicated that the President will sign the bill.—DAVID HANSON
ANOTHER ROLE FOR RNA
Corey (left), Rosalyn Ram, and Janowskifind that RNA can activate, as well as silence, gene expression.
receptor (C&EN, Aug. 8,2005, page 10). Some of those RNAs increased gene expression rather than silencing it, but the cell line they were using at the time produced so much progesterone receptor to begin with that the effect was not obvious. In a different cell line with low MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: Short RNA basal levels of progesterone receptor, they were able to duplexes turn on gene expression use the RNAs to generate an 18-fold increase in the concentration of receptor. They don't yet know how the process works, but Corey suspects that it takes advantage of a mechanism N ADDITION TO SILENCING gene expression, that cells already use. "This worked so easily that I can't short pieces of double-stranded RNA maybe able to believe this isn't a mechanism that's already in place," activate gene expression. he says. He doubts that the RNAs can act as transcripTo activate gene expression, David R. Corey, Bethtion factors on their own. "The role of protein tranany A. Janowski, and coworkers at the University of scription factors is well-established and ubiquitous. Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, use RNA RNA might supplement them," he says. duplexes that target a portion of genomic DNA upstream from the site where gene Corey envisions these RNA molecules being used transcription begins (Nat. Chem. as research tools and eventually even as therapeutics. Biol, DOI: 10.1038/nchem "They open up possibilities that were not present from bio86o). The effect requires either antisense oligonucleotides or traditional small that the RNA duplex's sequence interfering RNAs, which are very good at silencing gene be complementary to that of expression," he says. "If you're working in a therapeutic the targeted genomic DNA. system and you would like to have a gene upregulated, Although structurally similar to this might be the way to do it." Rajvir Dahiya and cothe RNA used in RNA interferworkers at the University of California, San Francisco, ence, these RNA duplexes target have seen similar effects in other types of cells (Proc. DNA instead of messenger RNA. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 2006,103,17337). The researchers first saw Aseem Z. Ansari, a biochemist at the University of inklings of the effect when they Wisconsin, Madison, who designs artificial transcripwere studying similar DNAtion factors, is enthusiastic. He expects that the reports targeting RNAs that reduce the "will provoke much activity in this area and will likely expression of the progesterone provide a tool to activate target genes."—CELIA ARN AUD
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