Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 25 June 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5423, pp. 2118 - 2124
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5423.2118
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Chemical Etiology of Nucleic Acid Structure

Albert Eschenmoser

Systematic chemical studies indicate that the capability of Watson-Crick base-pairing is widespread among potentially natural nucleic acid alternatives taken from RNA's close structural neighborhood. A comparison of RNA and such alternatives with regard to chemical properties that are fundamental to the biological function of RNA provides chemical facts that may contain clues to RNA's origin.

The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA, and Laboratorium für Organische Chemie, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Backbone-base inclination as a fundamental determinant of nucleic acid self- and cross-pairing.
P. S. Pallan, P. Lubini, M. Bolli, and M. Egli (2007)
Nucleic Acids Res. 35, 6611-6624
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Enzymatic synthesis of DNA on glycerol nucleic acid templates without stable duplex formation between product and template.
C.-H. Tsai, J. Chen, and J. W. Szostak (2007)
PNAS 104, 14598-14603
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High fidelity TNA synthesis by Therminator polymerase.
J. K. Ichida, A. Horhota, K. Zou, L. W. McLaughlin, and J. W. Szostak (2005)
Nucleic Acids Res. 33, 5219-5225
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular beacons with a homo-DNA stem: improving target selectivity.
C. Crey-Desbiolles, D.-R. Ahn, and C. J. Leumann (2005)
Nucleic Acids Res. 33, e77
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Catalysis and Prebiotic Synthesis.
J. P. Ferris (2005)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 59, 187-210
   Full Text »    PDF »
NMR Application Probes a Novel and Ubiquitous Family of Enzymes That Alter Monosaccharide Configuration.
K.-S. Ryu, C. Kim, I. Kim, S. Yoo, B.-S. Choi, and C. Park (2004)
J. Biol. Chem. 279, 25544-25548
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Four-Base Paired Genetic Helix with Expanded Size.
H. Liu, J. Gao, S. R. Lynch, Y. D. Saito, L. Maynard, and E. T. Kool (2003)
Science 302, 868-871
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products