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mechanism that causes a form of blindness

Scientific
BBC Science United States found the key to one of the leading causes of blindness: macular degeneration Age-related (AMD). They hope the discovery will lead to a cure.

macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries.
The disease, characterized by the deterioration of the macula, the layer lining the back of the eye, mainly affects people over 50 years and is the leading cause of untreatable blindness in developed countries.
U.S. alone, the disease affects about 10 million older people and causes blindness in more than 1 million.
And the study, published in the journal Nature, found an enzyme, known as DICER1, which is working to stop the disease.
The macula, located in the center of the retina is a light-sensitive tissue responsible for the fine detail of the center of vision.
As the disease progresses, central vision is lost, making activities such as reading, driving a car and recognizing faces.
The cause of the disease, but risk factors include smoking, hypertension and family history of the disorder.
There are two types of AMD: wet and dry, which is the most common form of the disease.

cell death is a potentially very important advance gives us new information about this dry form of the disease
Professor Mike Cheetham
In research, scientists at the University of Kentucky DICER1 discovered that the enzyme was less active in the retina of patients suffering from advanced stages of dry form of AMD, called geographic atrophy.
And when deactivated the gene that is responsible for producing the enzyme in mice, the retinal cells of the animals were damaged.
The researchers found that the enzyme DICER1 will destroy small portions of genetic material called RNA Alu.
Without DICER1, Alu RNA accumulates leading to high toxicity leading to death retina. As
told the BBC the teacher Jayakrishnan Ambati, who led the study, "This study opens many new avenues of research."
"First, we need to identify various kinds of molecules that can both increase the levels of DICER1 lock the Alu RNA that can be evaluated in clinical trials."
"Secondly, we need to understand more about the biological processes that lead to reduced levels DICER1 and accurate source of Alu RNA transcripts."
junk DNA

The disease causes loss of central vision.
Although Alu elements are a huge proportion of the human genome more than 1 million sequences, their role has until now been unknown. Therefore
are classified as "junk." But the discovery of their toxicity and their control in the enzyme DICER1 shows that are much more important than previously thought.
The experts received positively and say the discovery could eventually lead to the development of new treatments for AMD.
"It's a potentially very important step forward gives us new information about this dry form of the disease," says Professor Mike Cheetham, head of molecular and cellular neuroscience at the University of London.
"could offer new therapeutic avenues, but still finding

be confirmed