RNA Rejoice!

摘要

In the beginning, there was RNA. But, as in Genesis, the telling is what brings the story to life. No one could be better suited to trace the history of "life's indispensable molecule" than James Darnell. It was he who discovered RNA processing shortly after the cenrraliry of RNA in all living systems was established by the identification of messenger RNA in 1961. His lab gathered the first evidence that the useful form of most RNAs- unlike those of DNA and proteins-is fashioned by trimming and modifying the originally synthesized molecule in predetermined ways. Darnell's recent seminal contributions to our understanding of mechanisms of tran-scriptional regulation extend his panoramic view of the versatility of RNA. The thread that stitches RNA: Life's Indispensable Molecule together is the perhaps obvious concept that RNA determines a cell's functioning. DNA may encode a cell's potential, but the RNA molecules present dictate the activities that define a cell's state at any particular moment.