Rapid progress in the sequencing of several genomes has provided abundant sequence information, but the functions of many of the genes remain to be determined. So, a simple and reliable knockdown tool ...

The novel Cleavage High-throughput Assay (CHiTA) developed at Penn State provides a scarless method to characterize thousands of diverse small self-cleaving RNA enzymes, called twister ribozymes, in a ...

RNA is a central biological macromolecule, now widely harnessed in medicine and nanotechnology. Like proteins, RNA function often depends on its precise three-dimensional structure. A recent study ...

We investigated whether a continuous transcript is necessary for co-transcriptional pre-mRNA processing. Cutting an intron with the fast-cleaving hepatitis δ ribozyme, but not the slower hammerhead, ...

In new research published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, scientists applied a high throughput methodology to study the ribozyme in an innovative way. While work in this area has typically used ...

RNA molecules are an integral part of the human body: In cells, they ensure the transfer of genetic information and regulate the activity of genes. Some even act as catalysts, allowing chemical ...

RNA is a central biological macromolecule, now widely harnessed in medicine and nanotechnology. Like proteins, RNA function often depends on its precise three-dimensional structure. A recent study ...

The “RNA world” hypothesis proposes that the earliest life on Earth may have been based on RNA — a single-stranded molecule similar in many ways to DNA — like some modern viruses. This is because, ...

Which came first, nucleic acids or proteins? This question is molecular biology’s version of the “chicken-or-the-egg” riddle. Genes made of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) contain the instructions for ...

One serious limitation with current gene therapy strategies is a lack of control. When researchers deliver a gene to replace one linked to disease, there’s no way to turn on the therapeutic gene at ...