RNA: yesterday, today and tomorrow
- 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
- 2Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
- Corresponding authors: gopalan.5{at}osu.edu; wmcclain{at}wisc.edu
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
As part of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the RNA journal, we sought to identify an exemplar from recent advances in RNA research that integrates several fundamentals in molecular biology that have emerged since the genetic code was established 50 years ago. We then discuss an area where exploration in the near future will perhaps prove profitable for RNA biology.
The atomic structures of the ribosome
“The important thing is to be there when the picture is painted.” J. Minton
It has been a long journey to decipher the roles of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), culminating in the stunning high-resolution crystallographic structures of the ribosome, both alone and bound to tRNAs and mRNA, notably from the pioneering work of Harry Noller, Venki Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz, and Ada Yonath. Few anticipated that the functional centers of both the 30S (the decoding site) and 50S (the peptidyl transferase center) would consist solely of RNA, making the ribosome an ancient …
