Exploring the catalytic and electronic potential of DNA and RNA

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I propose to investigate in depth two highly unexpected chemical catalytic properties of DNA and RNA, the genetic material of all living organisms. These properties were discovered in my laboratory, and demonstrate that enzymes made out of RNA/DNA are able to (a) harness the energy of light to catalyze photochemical reactions (in our case, the repair of pyrimidine dimers-- UV light-generated lesions in DNA itself); and (b) bind a ubiquitous cellular cofactor-- heme-- and utilize it to catalyze some of the same oxidative chemistries that are carried out in living cells by heme-utilizing protein enzymes. The fact that RNA and DNA, nominally information-carrying biopolymers, are able to replicate these particular catalytic activities of highly specialized proteins has wide ramifications. These include the possibility that RNA enzymes in primordial evolution carried out similar activities; they also provide us with a unique glimpse of how enzymes can be built from non-protein polymers. Most interestingly, our DNAzymes, which are smaller, cheaper, and more robust than their protein counterparts, are turning out to be reagents of significant practical utility worldwide, for biosensing and histochemical applications.