RNA splicing for 30 years
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
- Corresponding author: mbscc{at}ccvax.sinica.edu.tw
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Thirty years ago, I joined John Abelson's lab and started my RNA research career. It was the time that RNA splicing was a revolutionary discovery, and people craved to understand the details of the process. My mission was to develop an in vitro splicing system in yeast so that the mechanism of the splicing reaction could be studied. Andy Newman had developed an oligo protection assay for detecting the spliced mRNA to assay for splicing. I was prepared for a long fight having learned that many efforts have been tried by several people but not a bit of activity had been detected from numerous extracts prepared. Luckily, I was there to witness the excitement of the first detection of the splicing activity when it happened totally unexpectedly within a month of my arrival. Studies from the mammalian systems had provided some clues for us to follow, such as the ways …
