© 2011 • 366 pp., illus. (73 color, 23 b/w), index
Trim size: 8-1/2” x 10-7/8”
Hardcover • $162.00 • ISBN  978-0-879699-46-8

Once thought to be just a messenger that allows genetic information encoded in DNA to direct the formation of proteins, RNA (ribonucleic acid) is now known to be a highly versatile molecule that has multiple roles in cells. It can function as an enzyme, scaffold various subcellular structures, and regulate gene expression through a variety of mechanisms, as well as act as a key component of the protein synthesis and splicing machinery. Perhaps most interestingly, increasing evidence indicates that RNA preceded DNA as the hereditary material and played a crucial role in the early evolution of life on Earth.

This volume reviews our understanding of two RNA worlds: the primordial RNA world before DNA, in which RNA was both information store and biocatalyst; and the contemporary RNA world, in which mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, siRNA, miRNA, and a host of other RNAs operate.

The early chapters of the book analyze the role of RNA in the first life forms and the appearance of cells. Subsequent chapters examine riboswitches and ribozymes, establishing what the RNA molecule is capable of alone. The book goes on to discuss the evolution of ribosomes and the functions of RNPs, before reviewing the recent work that has revolutionized our understanding of gene regulation by non-coding RNAs, including miRNAs and siRNAs. Also covered are viral RNAs, telomerase RNA, and tools for scientists who work on RNA. The book is thus essential reading for all molecular biologists and biochemists, as well as chemists interested in RNA technology, information storage, or enzyme catalysis.

  “This striking volume...is beyond doubt one of the most influential books in biology over the last few decades....”
      —The Quarterly Review of Biology

Preface

Foreword to the First Edition of The RNA World

Francis Crick

Prologue to the First Edition of The RNA World

James D. Watson

The RNA Worlds in Context

Thomas R. Cech

THE EARLY RNA WORLD

Setting the Stage: The History, Chemistry, and Geobiology behind RNA

Steven A. Benner, Hyo-Joong Kim, and Zunyi Yang

The Origins of the RNA World

Michael P. Robertson and Gerald F. Joyce

Getting Past the RNA World: The Initial Darwinian Ancestor

Michael Yarus

The Origins of Cellular Life

Jason P. Schrum, Ting F. Zhu, and Jack W. Szostak

WHAT RNA CAN DO BY ITSELF

Riboswitches and the RNA World

Ronald R. Breaker

Riboswitches: Structures and Mechanisms

Andrew D. Garst, Andrea L. Edwards, and Robert T. Batey

Small Self-cleaving Ribozymes

Adrian R. Ferré-D’Amaré and William G. Scott

Group II Introns: Mobile Ribozymes that Invade DNA

Alan M. Lambowitz and Steven Zimmerly

EXIT THE RNA WORLD: PROTEIN SYNTHESIS ON RIBOSOMES

The Roles of RNA in the Synthesis of Protein

Peter B. Moore and Thomas A. Steitz

Evolution of Protein Synthesis from an RNA World

Harry F. Noller

The Ribosome: Some Hard Facts about Its Structure and Hot Air about Its Evolution

V. Ramakrishnan

RNP-ZYMES: WHAT RNA CAN DO IN COLLABORATION WITH PROTEIN

Noncoding RNPs of Viral Origin

Joan Steitz, Sumit Borah, Demian Cazalla, Victor Fok, Robin Lytle, Rachel Mitton-Fry, Kasandra Riley, and Tasleem Samji

Spliceosome Structure and Function

Cindy L. Will and Reinhard Lührmann

Telomerase: An RNP Enzyme Synthesizes DNA

Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Kathleen Collins

RNA REGULATED GENE EXPRESSION

Bacterial Small RNA Regulators: Versatile Roles and Rapidly Evolving Variations

Susan Gottesman and Gisela Storz

RNA in Defense: CRISPRs Protect Prokaryotes against Mobile Genetic Elements

Matthijs M. Jore, Stan J.J. Brouns, and John van der Oost

Ancestral Roles of Small RNAs: An Ago-Centric Perspective

Leemor Joshua-Tor and Gregory J. Hannon

RNA Interference and Heterochromatin Assembly

Tom Volpe and Robert A. Martienssen

The X as Model for RNA’s Niche in Epigenomic Regulation

Jeannie T. Lee

The Long Arm of Long Noncoding RNAs: Roles as Sensors Regulating Gene Transcriptional Programs

Xiangting Wang, Xiaoyuan Song, Christopher K. Glass, and Michael G. Rosenfeld

TOOLS FOR RNA SCIENCE

Folding and Finding RNA Secondary Structure

David H. Mathews, Walter N. Moss, and Douglas H. Turner

Predicting and Modeling RNA Architecture

Eric Westhof, Benoît Masquida, and Fabrice Jossinet

RNA Reactions One Molecule at a Time

Ignacio Tinoco, Gang Chen, and Xiaohui Qu

Aptamers and the RNA World, Past and Present

Larry Gold, Nebojsa Janjic, Thale Jarvis, Dan Schneider, Jeffrey J.Walker, Sheri K. Wilcox, and Dom Zichi

In Vivo RNAi: Today and Tomorrow

Norbert Perrimon, Jian-Quan Ni, and Lizabeth Perkins

Index