Professor Roger D. Kornberg from Stanford University, USA has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2006 for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription.

Professor Gunnar Oquist, Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the announcement at a press conference in the Academy in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Professor Kornberg said over a telephone interview at the press conference that ��behind this remarkable prize, I have more than 50 co-workers working extremely hard with me and we have never been alone, there are many people around the world who have done the basic works. I stand as a representative of them."

Professor Lars Thelander from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences explained that Roger D. Kornberg is awarded for his studies concerning how the information stored in the genes is copied, and then transferred to those parts of the cells that produce proteins. Kornberg was the first to create an actual picture of this process at the molecular level, in the important group of organisms called eukaryotes which, as opposed to bacteria, have well-defined cell nuclei.

"Transcription is necessary for all life. This makes the detailed description of the mechanism that that Roger Kornberg provides exactly the kind of ��most important chemical discovery' referred to by Alfred Nobel in his will." says the press release by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Hakan Wennerstrom, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry explained that if the transcription stops, the life will die soon and disturbances in the transcription process are involved in many human illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and various kinds of inflammation. Understanding more about the transcription process is important for the development of different therapeutic applications of stem cells.

"Roger Kornberg's contribution has culminated in his creation of detailed crystallographic pictures describing the transcription apparatus in full action in a eukaryotic cell. His pictures are so detailed that separate atoms can be distinguished and this makes it possible to understand the mechanisms of transcription and how it is regulated." According to the press release.

This is the fifth American scientist who won the Nobel Prize 2006. The prize winners in Physics and Physiology or Medicine are also from America. And Roger's father Arthur Kornberg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959 for his studies of how genetic information is transferred from one DNA-molecule to another. 12 year old Roger came to Stockholm with his father. Kornberg senior had described how genetic information is transferred from a mother cell to its daughters. What Roger Kornberg himself has now done is to describe how the genetic information is copied from DNA into what is called messenger-RNA. The messenger-RNA carries the information out of the cell nucleus so that it can be used to construct the proteins which is essential for life.

The laureate will receive 10 million Swedish kronor, or about 1.37 US dollars.

Professor Kornberg was born in St Louis MO, USA and got his PhD from Stanford University and has worked there since then.

The Nobel Prize in Economics will be announced on Oct 9.

By Chen Xuefei, People's Daily Online correspondent in Stockholm