Developments over the past few years have revealed the remarkable versatility of RNA in any compartment of the cell, tasks that had been thought to be exclusively in the realm of proteins and even beyond. The chapters in this book written by leading investigators in the field provide insight into various promising avenues where RNA and nucleic acid derivatives including antisense RNAs, such as siRNA, miRNAs, amplification/selection (SELEX) generated aptamers as well as ribozymes are at the threshold of impacting medicine.

Developments over the past few years have revealed the remarkable versatility of RNA in any compartment of the cell, tasks that had been thought to be exclusively in the realm of proteins and even beyond. The chapters in this book written by leading investigators in the field provide insight into various promising avenues where RNA and nucleic acid derivatives including antisense RNAs, such as siRNA, miRNAs, amplification/selection (SELEX) generated aptamers as well as ribozymes are at the threshold of impacting medicine.

This volume contains 29 engrossing chapters contributed by worldwide, leading research groups in the field of chemical biology. Topics include pre-biology; the establishment of the genetic code; isomerization of RNA; damage of nucleobases in RNA; the dynamic structure of nucleic acids and their analogs in DNA replication, extra- and intra-cellular transport; molecular crowding by the use of ionic liquids; new technologies enabling the modification of gene expression via editing of therapeutic genes; the use of riboswitches; the modification of mRNA cap regions; new approaches to detect...