A magnesium-binding nucleotide, a remodeling ATPase, and a wonderful RNA world

Flipping through the first issue of RNA, two things specifically attracted my eyes: the original edition of The RNA World by Gesteland and Atkins, and a paper by Yi-Tao Yu et al. That classic monograph collected invaluable commentaries and reviews on the whole spectrum of RNA research from the legends and pioneers, on which I often relied for wisdom and insight. That paper by Tim Nilsen's group describing a phosphorothioate substitution study of U6 snRNA in nematode, and along with a similar study in yeast U6 by John Abelson's group, provided early chemical evidence that the bulging uridine (U₆₉ in nematode and U₈₀ in yeast) at the 3′ stem-loop of the U6 snRNA is likely an essential catalytic constituent of the spliceosome. Following on those observations, Shyue-Lee Yean, a postdoc in my lab, spent a good three to four years trying to find answers to a simple …