Two separate laboratory breakthroughs have produced RNA molecules that can build copies of themselves or assemble functional structures without any help from proteins or DNA. These results offer the ...

A 45-nucleotide strand of RNA can now synthesize both its mirror-image complement and a copy of itself, bringing scientists closer than ever to demonstrating how life could have emerged from chemistry ...

The discovery of catalytic RNA transformed our understanding of life's beginnings. Clare Sansom explores how the RNA world hypothesis bridges the gap between non-living chemistry and the first cells ...

Our genes contain all the instructions our body needs to function, but their expression must be finely regulated to guarantee that each cell performs its role optimally. This is where DNA and RNA ...

These random molecules were fed a collection of three-base-long RNAs, each linked to a chemical tag. The idea was that if a molecule is capable of ligating one of these short RNA fragments to itself, ...

Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge have discovered a ribozyme that is shockingly small, yet ...

Multiple forms of double-stranded RNA (blue, magenta, orange structures) cross cell membranes with the help of a conserved protein located in novel sites (colored by depth) throughout the roundworm's ...

Fred Hutch researchers invent a CRISPR screening method to understand RNA-binding proteins often mutated in cancer and other diseases In biology’s standard tale of two acids — deoxyribonucleic (DNA) ...

In a recent study, researchers at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health) identify a novel RNA molecule that plays a crucial role in preserving the integrity of a key ...

QIMR Berghofer scientists have discovered a cancer-fighting RNA molecule that could hold the key to a new way of treating the most common form of breast cancer. The team are developing their findings ...