Vesicle encapsulation stabilizes intermolecular association and structure formation of functional RNA and DNA.

ABSTRACT: During the origin of life, encapsulation of RNA inside vesicles is believed to have been a defining feature of the earliest cells (protocells). The confined biophysical environment provided by membrane encapsulation differs from that of bulk solution and has been shown to increase activity as well as evolutionary rate for functional RNA. However, the structural basis of the effect on RNA has not been clear. Here, we studied how encapsulation of the hairpin ribozyme inside model protocells affects ribozyme kinetics, ribozyme folding into the active conformation, and cleavage and ligation activities. We further examined the effect of encapsulation on the folding of a stem-loop RNA structure and on the formation of a triplex structure in a pH-sensitive DNA switch. The results indicate that en

SUBMITTER: Peng H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8752491 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature