Re: Exactly who discovered dsRNA, when and how?

Hi Susan,

Thanks for a great question. These science history questions are often quite a challenge to answer. I think that's because often in science there is no one moment that you can point to and say "that's where it started": often, discoveries arise out of the work of many people over an extended time period.

I guess we can split your question into two. First, when was it realised that RNA could exist as a double helical structure? Second, when was it realised that dsRNA existed in nature and was biologically relevant?

I tried "double-stranded RNA"+history at Google. Lo and behold, the top hit is entitled "Fifty Years with Double-Stranded RNA". It's an article in an online science news publication called The Scientist. Here is the link to the article, but you probably won't be able to access it unless you have a subscription. However, you can try what I did and look for the article in the Google cache, which contains the full text. Information wants to be free! In this article, you will learn that dsRNA was first synthesised, after much trial and error, in 1956 by two researchers named AlexanderRich and David Davies. Here is their publication:

A new two stranded helical structure: polyadenylic acid and polyuridylic acid
Rich, Alexander and Davies, David R.
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 78, 14, 3548 - 3549, 1956

Link to first page (PDF)
Link to full PDF (subscription required)
Link to article DOI
Google Cache link (with free link to the PDF)

You correctly mention that dsRNA is known predominantly from viral genomes and from RNA interference. If we search the PubMed database using the phrase "double-stranded RNA", we find 6716 articles - it's a hot topic. The earliest reference in there is this one:

Virus-specific double-stranded RNA in poliovirus-infected cells
Baltimore D, Becker Y, Darnell JE (1964)
Science 143:1034-6

PubMed link
Link to Science abstract

The role of dsRNA in RNA interference is much more widely known, because it led to a Nobel prize award last year. RNA interference is mediated by double-stranded siRNA. Wikipedia actually has 2 excellent articles on this topic which should lead you to other resources:
Small interfering RNA
RNA interference

The process was first observed in plants in the mid 1980s and subsequently in the worm C. elegans, in 1998. This latter work led to the 2006 Nobel prize award. There are those who say that the plant scientists were unfairly overlooked because in the eyes of some, it doesn't matter unless it's in animals! You be the judge.