Santa Cruz, CA — 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Important progress for RNA research: A team has discovered a new ribozyme that can label RNA molecules in living cells. RNA molecules are real all-rounders. They transfer the genetic information from ...

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, ...

Researchers have visualized how a large RNA molecule assembles itself into a functional machine. RNA is a central biological macromolecule, now widely harnessed in medicine and nanotechnology. Like ...

A new method can test the activity of thousands of RNA enzymes, called ribozymes, in a single experiment. The "RNA world" hypothesis proposes that the earliest life on Earth may have been based on RNA ...