Structural and Catalytic Roles of Metal Ions in RNA

Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel, Roland K. O. Sigel

Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011 - Science - 391 pages

The discovery of ribozymes triggered a huge interest in the chemistry and biology of RNAs. Much of the recently made progress focusing on metal ions is addressed in Volume 9. This book, written by 28 internationally recognized experts, provides a most up-to-date view and it is thus of special relevance for colleagues teaching courses in biological inorganic chemistry and for researchers dealing, e.g., with nucleic acids, gene expression, and enzymology, but also for those in analytical and bioinorganic chemistry or biophysics. Structural and Catalytic Roles of Metal Ions in RNA describes metal ion-binding motives, methods to detect and characterize metal ion binding sites, and the role of metal ions in folding and catalysis. It deals with diffuse metal ion binding, RNA quadruplexes, the regulation of riboswitches, metal ions and ribozymes, including artificial ribozymes. The ribosome, ribozymes and redox cofactors, as well as the binding of kinetically inert metal ions to RNA are also considered.

Contents

• METHODS TO DETECT AND CHARACTERIZE METAL: 37
• Spectroscopic Methods: 46
• Chemical and Biochemical Methods: 67
• Computational Methods: 80
• Concluding Remarks and Future Directions: 89

About the author

Astrid Sigel has studied languages and was an editor for the Metal Ions in Biological Systems series (until Volume 44) and also of the Handbooks on Toxicity of Inorganic Compounds (1988), on Metals in Clinical and Analytical Chemistry (1944; both with H G Seiler), and on Metalloproteins (2001; with Ivano Bertini) (Dekker, New York). Helmut Sigel is Emeritus Professor (2003) of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and a previous editor of the MIBS series until Volume 44. He serves on various editorial and advisory boards, published over 300 articles on metal ion complexes of nucleotides, coenzymes, and other ligands of biological relevance, and lectured worldwide. He was named Protagonist in Chemistry (2002) by ICA (issue 39); among further honours are the P. Ray Award (Indian Chemical Society, of which he is also an Honorary Fellow), the Werner Award (Swiss Chemical Society), a Doctor of Science honoris causa degree (Kalyani University, India), appointments as Visiting Professor (e.g. Austria, China, Japan, UK) and Endowed Lectureships. Roland K O Sigel is Assistant Professor (2003) of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, endowed with a Förderungsprofessur of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He received his doctoral degree summa cum laude (1999) from the University of Dortmund, Germany, working with Bernhard Lippert; thereafter he spent nearly three years at Columbia Unversity, New York, USA, in the group of Anna Marie Pyle (now Yale University); during the six years abroad he received several fellowships from various sources. His research focuses on the structural and catalytic role of metal ions in ribozymes, especially group II introns, and on related topics. He was also an editor of Volume 43 and 44 of the MIBS series.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Structural and Catalytic Roles of Metal Ions in RNA; Volume 9 of Issn Series; Volume 9 of Metal ions in life sciences, ISSN 1559-0836
• Editors: Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel, Roland K. O. Sigel
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2011
• ISBN: 1849730946, 9781849730945
• Length: 391 pages
• Subjects: Science / Chemistry / General; Science / Chemistry / Industrial & Technical; Science / Chemistry / Inorganic; Science / Chemistry / Physical & Theoretical; Science / Life Sciences / Biochemistry