[X-ray structural studies of nucleic acid molecular structure and nucleic acid-protein interaction mechanism]

Since the discovery of the right-handed double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid by Watson and Crick in 1953, many pieces of detailed nucleic acid structural information involving ribonucleic acid have been elucidated and this review describes the results of the X-ray structural studies of nucleic acids and their constituents carried out in my laboratory. In the latter half the nucleic acid-protein interaction mechanism was also discussed on the basis of the molecular model of the stacking interaction between base and aromatic amino acid side chains. The structure-function relationship of ribonuclease T1.guanosine monophosphate complex was used as an example.