Principles Of Nucleic Acids

Principles of Nucleic
Acid Structure

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Principles of Nucleic
Acid Structure
Stephen Neidle
The School of Pharmacy
University of London, London, UK

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First edition 2008
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Material in this book originally published in“Nucleic Acid Structure and Recognition”, by Stephen Neidle
(Oxford University Press, 2002)
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ISBN: 978-0-12-369507-9

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On the Cover:
Structure of the nucleosome core particle, drawn from coordinates taken from PDB entry no. 1KX3 (Davey et al.,
Solvent mediated interactions in the structre of the nucleosome core particle at 1.9 Å resolution. J. Mol. Biol. 2002,
319,1097–1113).

To the memory of my father,
who inspired my curiosity for science

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Preface

The years that have elapsed since the previous version of this book was published,
in 2001, have been momentous ones for nucleic acid studies. In 2003 we celebrated
both the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of the DNA double helix,
and theannouncement of the determination of the sequence of the human genome.
It might therefore be thought that the study of nucleic acid structure is itself now part
of history, and that there is little more to be known. The reality is very different; we
have seen a number of profound new discoveries relating to both RNA and DNA
structure, just in the first seven years of this millennium. These significantadvances in
the subject have required, not just a new edition, but an expansion of many sections
and a re write of others.
The aim of the book is to provide an introduction to the underlying fundamental
features and principles governing nucleic acid structures, as well as many of the structures themselves. It is hoped that this provides a firm foundation for subsequent studies
of thestructural biology and chemistry of nucleic acids. Its intended audience is at
graduate level, and it is hoped that it will be of use to active researchers, and even to the
more inquisitive final-year undergraduate students. The book does not attempt to be a
comprehensive survey of all nucleic acid-containing structures. Instead, it concentrates
on more general themes, and focuses on those...