"Design, Synthesis, and Structures of Modified RNA/DNA Bases"

Naturally occurring modified nucleobases, next to the five canonical nucleobases, extend the chemical information content of DNA and RNA. They are known to exert profound effects in a variety of microbiological and mammalian systems as they can be readily incorporated into DNA. Nonetheless, their role in regulating the basic functions in a cell is still largely unexplored. Moreover, over the past two decades, chemically modified nucleobases have been developed as a versatile tool for chemical fine-tuning of artificial DNA in the emerging area of synthetic biology. Indeed, unnatural base pairing may possess higher specificity and thermal stability through a suitable design of artificial nucleobases and yield an artificially expanded genetic information system. While the emphasis of this Special Issue on the “Design, Synthesis, and Structures of Modified RNA/DNA Bases” is the rational design of new crystal and cocrystal structures of unnatural and epigenetic nucleobases, also including their drug complexes, from X-ray and/or neutron diffraction methods, theoretical analyses are also appropriate.