Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition book cover

Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition

Author(s): G Michael Blackburn (Editor), Michael J Gait (Editor), David Loakes (Editor), David M Williams (Editor), Martin Egli (Contributor), Andy Flavell (Contributor), Anna Marie Pyle (Contributor), W David Wilson (Contributor), S Ihtshamul Haq (Contributor), Ben Luisi (Contributor), Julie Fisher (Contributor), Charlie Laughton (Contributor), Stephanie Allen (Contributor), Joachim Engels (Contributor), Jane A Grasby (Contributor), Stephen Neidle (Contributor)

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
Publication Date: 3 Nov. 2006
Edition: 3rd
Language: English
Print length: 503 pages
ISBN-10: 0854046542
ISBN-13: 9780854046546

Book Description

The structure, function and reactions of nucleic acids are central to molecular biology and are crucial for the understanding of complex biological processes involved. Revised and updated Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition discusses in detail, both the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids and brings RNA into parity with DNA. Written by leading experts, with extensive teaching experience, this new edition provides some updated and expanded coverage of nucleic acid chemistry, reactions and interactions with proteins and drugs. A brief history of the discovery of nucleic acids is followed by a molecularly based introduction to the structure and biological roles of DNA and RNA. Key chapters are devoted to the chemical synthesis of nucleosides and nucleotides, oligonucleotides and their analogues and to analytical techniques applied to nucleic acids. The text is supported by an extensive list of references, making it a definitive reference source. This authoritative book presents topics in an integrated manner and readable style. It is ideal for graduate and undergraduates students of chemistry and biochemistry, as well as new researchers to the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

…clear and direct style that explains complex ideas in a straightforward manner. The book does a great job of communicating the excitement of research on nucleic acids. My search for a textbook for next year’s nucleic acids course appears to be over! Jennifer A. Doudna — ACS Chemical Biology, Vol.2, No.4, 20 April 2007 ACS Chemical Biology An excellent overview of the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids, at a level that is suitable for use in university teaching, but with enough detail to be useful as a reference source for chemists, biochemists and biologists involved in current research of nucleic acids. — Chemistry World, June 2007, p62 (Richard Bowater) Chemistry World

About the Author

Mike Blackburn has been active in chemical biology research for over 50 years, beginning with chemical synthesis of a substrate analogue for ribosomal peptide synthesis (J. Mol. Biol., 1965, 13, 617-628). He studied enzyme mechanisms with W. P. Jencks (Brandeis University, 1966-7) and launched into the use of stable analogues of phosphate esters and anhydrides for studies on nucleotides and glycolysis intermediates from the late ‘70s. This has culminated in the current use of metal fluorides to generate transition state analogues for phosphoryl transfer reactions by kinases, mutases, and isomerases. He has authored some 300 research papers, several patents, one book (“Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, 3rd Edition, RSC 2005), and is a co-author for more than 70 structures in the Protein Data Bank.

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Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition

Name: Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition
Author: G Michael Blackburn (Editor), Michael J Gait (Editor), David Loakes (Editor), David M Williams (Editor), Martin Egli (Contributor), Andy Flavell (Contributor), Anna Marie Pyle (Contributor), W David Wilson (Contributor), S Ihtshamul Haq (Contributor), Ben Luisi (Contributor), Julie Fisher (Contributor), Charlie Laughton (Contributor), Stephanie Allen (Contributor), Joachim Engels (Contributor), Jane A Grasby (Contributor), Stephen Neidle (Contributor)
ISBN: 9780854046546

By G. Michael Blackburn, Michael J. Gait, David Loakes, David M. Williams

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Glossary,
Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview,
Chapter 2 DNA and RNA Structure,
Chapter 3 Nucleosides and Nucleotides,
Chapter 4 Synthesis of Oligonucleotides,
Chapter 5 Nucleic Acids in Biotechnology,
Chapter 6 Genes and Genomes,
Chapter 7 RNA Structure and Function,
Chapter 8 Covalent Interactions of Nucleic Acids with Small Molecules and Their Repair,
Chapter 9 Reversible Small Molecule-Nucleic Acid Interactions,
Chapter 10 Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions,
Chapter 11 Physical and Structural Techniques Applied to Nucleic Acids,
Subject Index,

CHAPTER 1

Introduction and Overview

CONTENTS

1.1 The Biological Importance of DNA

1.2 The Origins of Nucleic Acids Research

1.3 Early Structural Studies on Nucleic Acids

1.4 The Discovery of the Structure of DNA

1.5 The Advent of Molecular Biology

1.6 The Partnership of Chemistry and Biology

1.7 Frontiers in Nucleic Acids Research

References

1.1 THE BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF DNA

From the beginning, the study of nucleic acids has drawn together, as though by a powerful unseen force, a galaxy of scientists of the highest ability. Striving to tease apart its secrets, these talented individuals have brought with them a broad range of skills from other disciplines while many of the problems they have encountered have proved to be soluble only by new inventions. Looking at their work, one is constantly made aware that scientists in this field appear to have enjoyed a greater sense of excitement in their work than is given to most. Why?

For over 60 years, such men and women have been fascinated and stimulated by their awareness that the study of nucleic acids is central to the knowledge of life. Let us start by looking at Fred Griffith, who was employed as a scientific civil servant in the British Ministry of Health investigating the nature of epidemics. In 1923, he was able to identify the difference between a virulent, S, and a non-virulent, R, form of the pneumonia bacterium. Griffith went on to show that this bacterium could be made to undergo a permanent, hereditable change from non-virulent to virulent type. This discovery was a bombshell in bacterial genetics.

Oswald Avery and his group at the Rockefeller Institute in New York set out to identify the molecular mechanism responsible for the change Griffith had discovered, now technically called bacterial transformation. They achieved a breakthrough in 1940 when they found that nonvirulent R pneumococci could be transformed irreversibly into a virulent species by treatment with a pure sample of high molecular weight DNA. Avery had purified this DNA from heat-killed bacteria of a virulent strain and showed that it was active at a dilution of 1 part in 10.

Avery concluded that ‘DNA is responsible for the transforming activity‘ and published that analysis in 1944, just 3 years after Griffith had died in a London air-raid. The staggering implications of Avery’s work turned a searchlight on the molecular nature of nucleic acids and it soon became evident that ideas on the chemistry of nucleic acid structure at that time were wholly inadequate to explain such a momentous discovery. As a result, a new wave of scientists directed their attention to DNA and discovered that large parts of t

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Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology 3rd Edition