Ligand specificity and adaptability revealed by the first Guanine-II riboswitch tertiary structure.

ABSTRACT: A comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles governing RNA-small molecule interactions is crucial for advancing RNA-targeting therapeutics with small molecules. Riboswitches, a class of noncoding RNAs, regulate gene expression by direct interaction with small-molecule metabolites. In this work, we report an in-depth structure-based investigation of a newly identified riboswitch, Guanine-II, which, despite sharing a conserved scaffold with the Guanine-I riboswitch, exhibits strikingly distinct small molecule ligand-binding characteristics. Through a comprehensive structural analysis of the Guanine-II riboswitch bound to various guanine analogs, combined with comparative studies of other guanine riboswitch variants, including Guanine-I and Xanthine-II riboswitches, as well as

SUBMITTER: Li H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12445698 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature