In four lectures, Nobel laureate Thomas R. Cech, Ph.D., discusses the ability of RNA to act as more than just an intermediary between DNA and proteins.

The central dogma of molecular biology—DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) makes RNA (ribonucleic acid) makes protein—has been established since the 1960s. The famous double helix of DNA is the cell's permanent storehouse of information. RNA transmits this information to the protein synthesis machinery, producing DNA-encoded protein.

More recently, scientists have realized that RNA is not restricted to a messenger role; it can also catalyze chemical reactions. This discovery has several implications.

• It means that RNA can actively participate in directing cellular biochemistry. Two of the major steps in human gene expression—messenger RNA splicing and messenger RNA translation—appear to be at least partly catalyzed by RNA.

• The study of how ribozymes (RNA enzymes) work may reveal new mechanisms of biological catalysis.

• RNA's ability to both store genetic information and catalyze biochemical reactions lends plausibility to the theory that RNA had a central role in the origin of life.

• RNA catalysis has the potential to provide new therapeutic agents. For example, ribozymes can efficiently split and thereby destroy viral RNA under controlled laboratory conditions. This suggests that ribozymes might be able to inactivate viruses in a living organism.

In these lectures, Dr. Cech explains the current state of knowledge of RNA in chemistry and in structural and cell biology and discusses the implications of ribozymes. This multidisciplinary view characterizes the approach of Dr. Cech's research group to RNA investigation. Dr. Cech also tells the story of the discovery of RNA catalysis, which led to his receiving the 1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

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