Ribonucleic acid purification

Research on RNA has led to many important biological discoveries and improvement of therapeutic technologies. From basic to applied research, many procedures employ pure and intact RNA molecules; however their isolation and purification are critical steps because of the easy degradability of RNA, which can impair chemical stability and biological functionality. The current techniques to isolate and purify RNA molecules still have several limitations and the requirement for new methods able to improve RNA quality to meet regulatory demands is growing. In fact, as basic research improves the understanding of biological roles of RNAs, the biopharmaceutical industry starts to focus on them as a biotherapeutic tools. Chromatographic bioseparation is a high selective unit operation and is the major option in the purification of biological compounds, requiring high purity degree. In addition, its application in biopharmaceutical manufacturing is well established. This paper discusses the importance and the progress of RNA isolation and purification, considering RNA applicability both in research and clinical fields. In particular and in view of the high specificity, affinity chromatography has been recently applied to RNA purification processes. Accordingly, recent chromatographic investigations based on biorecognition phenomena occurring between RNA and amino acids are focused. Histidine and arginine have been used as amino acid ligands, and their ability to isolate different RNA species demonstrated a multipurpose applicability in molecular biology analysis and RNA therapeutics preparation, highlighting the potential contribution of these methods to overcome the challenges of RNA purification.