New trends in nucleoside biotechnology.

This review focuses on new trends in nucleoside biotechnology, which have emerged during the last decade. Continuously growing interest in the study of this class of compounds is fueled by a number of factors: ( i ) a growing need for large-scale production of natural 2 ' -deoxy- β -D-ribonucleosides as well as their analogs with modifications in the carbohydrate and base fragments, which can then be used for the synthesis and study of oligonucleotides, including short-interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA), etc.; ( ii ) a necessity for the development of efficient practical technologies for the production of biologically important analogs of natural nucleosides, including a number of anticancer and antiviral drugs; ( iii ) a need for further study of known and novel enzymatic transformations and their use as tools for the efficient synthesis of new nucloside analogs and derivates with biomedical potential. This article will review all of these aspects and also include a brief retrospect of this field of research.