Natural biochemical processes are routinely being discovered in living cells
that involve RNA. Some of these processes, such as RNA interference, are now
being exploited for biotechnology and medicinal applications. DNA has also
proven in recent years to be more than a passive storehouse of information. For
example, non-B-form DNA structures formed by G-rich DNA have been shown to
participate in the regulation of gene expression, a discovery that presents new
possibilities for drug targets in the genome. The current quest to understand
how nucleic acid functions at the most fundamental level requires that we have a
detailed understanding of nucleic acid-metal ion interactions. Because RNA and
DNA