Elements of nucleotide specificity in the Trypanosoma brucei mitochondrial RNA editing enzyme RET2.

ABSTRACT: The causative agent of African sleeping sickness, Trypanosoma brucei , undergoes an unusual mitochondrial RNA editing process that is essential for its survival. RNA editing terminal uridylyl transferase 2 of T. brucei (TbRET2) is an indispensable component of the editosome machinery that performs this editing. TbRET2 is required to maintain the vitality of both the insect and bloodstream forms of the parasite, and with its high-resolution crystal structure, it poses as a promising pharmaceutical target. Neither the exclusive requirement of uridine 5'-triphosphate (UTP) for catalysis, nor the RNA primer preference of TbRET2 is well-understood. Using all-atom explicitly solvated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigated the effect of UTP binding on TbRET2 structure and dynamic

SUBMITTER: Demir O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3362124 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature