The concept of the ribozyme is quite recent. In fact, until the early 1980s RNA was considered just a copy of the DNA instructions and its role was to be a messenger to direct protein synthesis. However, in 1982, the research group of Cech found the first example of an RNA molecule – the self-splicing intron of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena – with enzyme-like properties.¹  This unexpected result led to the coining of the word ‘ribozyme’ to describe this kind of RNA with enzyme-like activity, even if only one example was known at that moment. But only one year later, the group of Altman discovered that the RNA component of a ribonuclease enzyme – the RNase P – was the first case of a multiple turnover enzyme using RNA-based catalysis.^2,3  The importance of this finding, which showed that RNA acts sometimes as an active participant in the chemistry of life, led Cech and Altman to be awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989.