Molekulare Evolution funktionaler Nukleinsäuren

In recent years biologists succeeded in applying strategies of natural evolution to the design of novel compounds. On the basis of large and highly diverse libraries molecules with desired properties are selected. In particular nucleic acids proved to be well suited to adopt a whole variety of functions, including high affinity target binding, specific inhibition of pharmaceutically relevant enzymes, substrate function and various catalytic activities. Altogether, the results brought considerable progress in the field of pharmaceutical drug design as much as they stimulated research on the origin of life. In particular, the theory of an early „RNA world”︁ preceeding our present DNA‐protein‐world has since gained a lot of plausibility.