Rich Alexander
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Q Rev Biophys. 2009 May;42(2):117-37. doi: 10.1017/S0033583509004776. Epub 2009 Jul 29.
In the mid-1950s, RNA was a somewhat mysterious molecule with unknown three-dimensional structure and little hard evidence of biological function. Changes began with the 1956 discoveries of the RNA double helix and the phenomenon of nucleic acid hybridization. Discovery of the DNA-RNA hybrid helix in 1960 opened the door to understanding biological information transfer. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis made it possible to precisely define the RNA double helix, discover the novel L-shaped fold of transfer RNA (tRNA), and finally reveal the complete three-dimensional tRNA structure by 1974. By then, a functional understanding of protein synthesis had developed with an appreciation of the various roles of different RNA species. This was the era of RNA awakening.
20世纪50年代中期，RNA还是一种有些神秘的分子，其三维结构未知，生物学功能的确凿证据也很少。1956年RNA双螺旋和核酸杂交现象的发现开启了变革。1960年DNA-RNA杂交螺旋的发现为理解生物信息传递打开了大门。单晶X射线衍射分析使精确界定RNA双螺旋、发现转运RNA（tRNA）独特的L形折叠成为可能，并最终在1974年揭示了tRNA的完整三维结构。到那时，随着对不同RNA种类各种作用的认识，人们对蛋白质合成有了功能性的理解。这就是RNA觉醒的时代。
