Arginine Forks Are a Widespread Motif to Recognize Phosphate Backbones and Guanine Nucleobases in the RNA Major Groove.

ABSTRACT: RNA recognition by proteins is central to biology. Here we demonstrate the existence of a recurrent structural motif, the "arginine fork", that codifies arginine readout of cognate backbone and guanine nucleobase interactions in a variety of protein-RNA complexes derived from viruses, metabolic enzymes, and ribosomes. Nearly 30 years ago, a theoretical arginine fork model was posited to account for the specificity between the HIV-1 Tat protein and TAR RNA. This model predicted that a single arginine should form four complementary contacts with nearby phosphates, yielding a two-pronged backbone readout. Recent high-resolution structures of TAR-protein complexes have unveiled new details, including (i) arginine interactions with the phosphate backbone and the major-groove edge of guan

SUBMITTER: Chavali SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7937406 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature