The ever expanding world of RNA

RNA or ribonucleic acids differ from DNA or deoxyribonucleic acids in having the sugar ribose in place of deoxyribose as well as having one less oxygen atom at the ribose. Secondly, in RNA the base thymine (T) is replaced with uracil (U). So the genetic alphabet has five letters: A, C, G, T and U.

The RNA World

When I was a kid I remember that when working in the fields of my father’s farm together with my late grandfather we where tossing a bunch of questions around during our regular spreading of manure onto the fields to fertilize them.

One of these questions was “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” This was before I knew of the science of molecular biology and many years later finally earned a Ph. D. in cell biology.

Now the question has evolved to “What came first proteins, DNA or RNA?”

The RNA world hypothesis, first supported by Carl Woese in 1967, speculates that the origin of life got started by simple self replicating RNA molecules that through natural selection may have evolved into life as we know it today. Furthermore, the “RNA world” refers to a hypothetical stage in the origin of life on Earth in which RNA carried out the storage of information and acted as an enzyme as well. This hypothesis assumes that RNA molecules assembled themselves randomly in the primordial soup and carried out simple metabolic activities. The discoveries of self splicing RNA molecules, ribozymes, ribosomes and RNA based molecular switches are now considered as a support for this hypothesis.

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Today, using improved synthetic and biochemical methods, DNA polymers, long and small double stranded DNA and RNA molecules,  RNA polymers, small and large peptides and small proteins can now be routinely synthesized.

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New generations of  artificial nucleic acid such as bridged nucleic acids (BNAs) are promising tools for the study of the expanding RNA world.

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 We at Biosynthesis Inc. can help you with all your synthesis needs.

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Please contact us at: http://www.biosyn.com

or call us at

1-800-227-0627

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The following shows a collections of abbreviations for different types of RNA families

RNAs that are important for protein synthesis

RNAs involved in post-transcriptional modification or DNA replication

Regulatory RNAs

Parasitic RNAs

Other RNAs

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Categories: BNA RNA, DNA, DNA Analysis, DNA Editing, DNA finger printing, Epigenetics, Gene Expression, lncRNA, Long noncoding RNA, miRNA, non-coding RNAs, Oligonucleotide Synthesis, RNA Editing, RNA silencing, RNA World, RNA World Hypothesis, RNAi, Virus

Tags: DNA editing, RNA editing, RNA World, Transcription, Translation