Overview
The discovery of DNA was a result of the extensive struggle in search of inherent material. It is interesting to know that we weren’t aware of it just a more than half of a century. During the last some decades the studies on DNA and RNA have established their biochemical and chemical properties and is still continue. The studies also indicate the double helical structure of DNA, which open doors to identify its constituents, the nucleic acids. A thorough knowledge of nucleic acids and their properties is now considered necessary both for biologists and chemist. Since the second edition of this text much have been changed. So this third edition was published in 2006 in order to meet the new researches, studies and so on. The major part of the book is the same as in the second edition, a few content have been written and revised.
One thing, which was not included in the previous edition, was the discovery the phenomenon of RNA interference. Today we know that a major role in controlling gene expression is played by micro-RNAs. The role played by micro-RNAs and other small RNAs is critical in the lives of cells than we might imagine.
The technical achievements of the last decade have been several breakthroughs inth3e scale of DNA sequencing. The first complete sequence of a simple bacterium, Haemophilus influenza and followed by first archaea, Methanocaldococcus jjannaschiil and were followed by a number of eukaryotic genomes including the draft human genome sequence in 2003. More recent advances have enabled us to get the enough information from a small genome within in few hours. We can anticipate an even more massive influx of new data in the next few years.
