Riboswitches Methods and Protocols Edited by Alexander Serganov

Riboswitches: Methods and Protocols  Methods in Molecular Biology 540 John M. Walker, Series Editor Hardback   The transfer of hereditary information from genes to proteins is one of the essential presses in all living organisms on our planet. Some genes are expressed without modulation throughout the life of a cell, while many others require various degrees of control to precisely balance cellular metabolism with environmental conditions. For many years, researchers attributed this regulatory function to protein molecules, which can direct gene expression at multiple levels, in response to various input signals, and with different degrees of selectivity. Even when the control of gene expression was achieved via direct interactions between proteins and mRNAs, the active role was routinely assigned to p- teins, while RNAs were considered merely as recipient molecules. The discovery of RNA interference and multiple bacterial regulatory RNAs caused a shift from the perception of protein