Nucleic Acids presents an up-to-date and comprehensive account of the structures and physical chemistry properties of nucleic acids, with special emphasis on biological function. With a targeted audience of 1)molecular biologists, 2)physical biochemists, and 3)physical chemists, the book has been carefully organized to reach three different audiences while requiring only introductory physical chemistry and molecular biology as prerequisites. Nucleic Acids will serve as a textbook in physical biochemistry and biophysical chemistry classes, as well as a supplemental text in courses on nucleic acid biochemistry or molecular biology, and as a personal reference for students and researchers in these fields.

It seems that the standard text for the study of nucleic acids is that by Saenger. But this text is also strong, to use either side by side with Saenger, or even on its own.

Illustrations are clear (although, no really pretty pictures except at the very end), and the writing is quite fluid and intelligible. This book, however, is not a book for beginners (ie. a person who's never read up on nucleic acids before). There tends to be some presupposition in the knowledge and technical jargon such that I think it would better serve as a reference for more advanced students and scientists.

The authors are recognized in the scientific world as being experts in their field, so it comes as no surprise that the text is full of good information.

Where the book falls short is as follows. The book is not very even in terms of the topics it covers. Another downside is that the book fails to discuss many of the newer experimental methods and discoveries, and in that sense is more out of date than you would like.

A good way to compensate for the two aforementioned problems is to supplement your reading with a text like Saenger, and to keep up to date with the current journal literature (if you're interested in methods, the first place to look is a place like Meth. Enzym.; if you're interested in reviews and other articles, turn to journals like Cell, Nature, Science, PNAS, and Biochemistry. If you're into more specialized stuff, consider these journals: 1)Nucleic Acids Research, and 2)RNA ).

Good luck.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:


Link to review  Nov 29, 2000 By Richard Owczarzy, Ph.D.
Authors are well known researchers in the field of nucleic acid biophysics. For detailed review of the book, look at J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122 (46), 11570 (2000).

0 of 1 found the following review helpful:


A good lecture for graduate students  Jan 30, 2010 By Alma Polo Barrios
This is a high level biochemistry and biophysic book with a deep emphasis in nucleic acids.