RNA : life's indispensable molecule / James Darnell.

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, [2011], ©2011.

xiv, 416 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The dawn of molecular biology: history of macromolecules before RNA -- RNA connects genes and proteins: ribosomes, tRNA, and messenger RNA -- After mRNA : the genetic code, translation, and the biochemistry of controlled RNA synthesis in bacteria -- Gene expression in mammalian cells: discovery of RNA processing, genes in pieces, and new RNA chemistry -- Controlling mRNA: the cell's most complicated task -- RNA and the beginning of life.