Local kinetic measures of macromolecular structure reveal partitioning among multiple parallel pathways from the earliest steps in the folding of a large RNA molecule.

ABSTRACT: At the heart of the RNA folding problem is the number, structures, and relationships among the intermediates that populate the folding pathways of most large RNA molecules. Unique insight into the structural dynamics of these intermediates can be gleaned from the time-dependent changes in local probes of macromolecular conformation (e.g. reports on individual nucleotide solvent accessibility offered by hydroxyl radical (()OH) footprinting). Local measures distributed around a macromolecule individually illuminate the ensemble of separate changes that constitute a folding reaction. Folding pathway reconstruction from a multitude of these individual measures is daunting due to the combinatorial explosion of possible kinetic models as the number of independent local measures increases. Fortun

SUBMITTER: Laederach A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2621361 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature