Weeks Kevin M
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3290.
Biopolymers. 2015 Aug;103(8):438-48. doi: 10.1002/bip.22601.
Profound insights regarding nucleic acid structure and function can be gleaned from very simple, direct, and chemistry-based strategies. Our approach strives to incorporate the elegant physical insights that Don Crothers instilled in those who trained in his laboratory. Don emphasized the advantages of focusing on direct and concise experiments even when the final objective was to understand something complex-potentially including the large-scale architectures of the genomes of RNA viruses and the transcriptomes of cells. Here, the author reviews the intellectual path, and a few detours, that led to the development of the SHAPE-MaP and RING-MaP technologies for interrogating RNA structure and function at large scales. The author also argues that greater attention to creating direct, less inferential experiments will convert "omics" investigations into lasting and definitive contributions to our understanding of biological function.
从非常简单、直接且基于化学的策略中，可以获得关于核酸结构和功能的深刻见解。我们的方法力求融入唐·克罗瑟斯（Don Crothers）传授给在他实验室接受培训的人的精妙物理见解。唐强调了专注于直接且简洁实验的优势，即便最终目标是理解某些复杂的事物——这可能包括RNA病毒基因组的大规模结构以及细胞的转录组。在此，作者回顾了促成用于大规模探究RNA结构和功能的SHAPE-MaP和RING-MaP技术发展的知识路径以及一些曲折历程。作者还认为，更多地关注创建直接的、推理较少的实验将把“组学”研究转化为对我们理解生物功能的持久且决定性的贡献。
