Using chemical approaches to understand RNA structure and function in biology.

Abstract

Interest of the research community in the aspects of chemical biology of RNA has increased vastly over the last twenty years, primarily due to the discovery of RNAi, our deepened understanding of the role of miRNA in the subtle regulation of vital cellular processes, and the realization of the fact that the RNA world—the realm where RNA plays the key parties as a self-replicating molecule and a universal catalyst—is still pretty much with us today as the ribosomal RNA performs its catalytic solo in the formation of the peptide bond in the ribosome. To answer the needs of Biology, Chemistry had, in turn, multiplied and perfected its approaches to study the molecular mechanisms underlying RNA functions in living systems. So, the idea behind this special issue is to show our readership a screenshot of what could be, and has been, achieved recently by applying chemical methods to solve the problems of RNA biology. Ten articles have been carefully selected out of the bunch of those submitted to provide, we believe, a balanced view of different facets of RNA structure and function and, also, of the array of chemical tools to enable us to peek into them.