Informational complexity and functional activity of RNA structures.

ABSTRACT: Very little is known about the distribution of functional DNA, RNA, and protein molecules in sequence space. The question of how the number and complexity of distinct solutions to a particular biochemical problem varies with activity is an important aspect of this general problem. Here we present a comparison of the structures and activities of eleven distinct GTP-binding RNAs (aptamers). By experimentally measuring the amount of information required to specify each optimal binding structure, we show that defining a structure capable of 10-fold tighter binding requires approximately 10 additional bits of information. This increase in information content is equivalent to specifying the identity of five additional nucleotide positions and corresponds to an approximately 1000-fold decrease in

SUBMITTER: Carothers JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5042360 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature