Introduction

Abstract

It is now about 30 years since ribozymes, catalytically active RNA molecules, were discovered. Although the chemical versatility of RNA does not come close to that of proteins, the chemical properties of nucleic acid systems are nevertheless thoroughly exploited in biological systems, leading to diverse ways of accelerating chemical reactions. Ribozymes are truly fascinating biological molecules. After all, is catalytic RNA an accident of life or, instead, is life an accident of catalytic RNA? © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.