MRNA secondary structures fold sequentially but exchange rapidly in vivo.

ABSTRACT: RNAs adopt defined structures to perform biological activities, and conformational transitions among alternative structures are critical to virtually all RNA-mediated processes ranging from metabolite-activation of bacterial riboswitches to pre-mRNA splicing and viral replication in eukaryotes. Mechanistic analysis of an RNA folding reaction in a biological context is challenging because many steps usually intervene between assembly of a functional RNA structure and execution of a biological function. We developed a system to probe mechanisms of secondary structure folding and exchange directly in vivo using self-cleavage to monitor competition between mutually exclusive structures that promote or inhibit ribozyme assembly. In previous work, upstream structures were more effective than dow

SUBMITTER: Mahen EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817708 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature