 RNA interference ( RNAi ) is a biological process in which RNA molecules inhibit gene expression , typically by causing the destruction of specific mRNA molecules . Historically , it was known by other names , including co @-@ suppression , post @-@ transcriptional gene silencing ( PTGS ) , and quelling . Only after these apparently unrelated processes were fully understood did it become clear that they all described the RNAi phenomenon . Andrew Fire and Craig C. Mello shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on RNA interference in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans , which they published in 1998 . Since the discovery of RNAi and its regulatory potentials , it has become evident that RNAi has immense potential in suppression of desired genes . RNAi is now known as precise , efficient , stable and better than antisense technology for gene suppression . 
