RNA Tertiary Structure Mediation by Adenosine Platforms

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 273; no. 5282; pp. 1696 - 1699
• Main Authors: Cate, Jamie H., Gooding, Anne R., Podell, Elaine, Zhou, Kaihong, Golden, Barbara L., Szewczak, Alexander A., Kundrot, Craig E., Cech, Thomas R., Doudna, Jennifer A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 20.09.1996; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adenosine; Adenosine - chemistry; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; Base Composition; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Catalytic RNA; Crystal structure; Crystals; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogen Bonding; Introns; Literary Devices; Methylation; Models, Molecular; Molecular biology; Molecules; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Nucleic acids; Nucleotides; Receptors; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Catalytic - chemistry; RNA, Protozoan - chemistry; Rna, ribonucleoproteins; Sulfates; Tetrahymena thermophila - genetics; Self-splicing; Catalytic reaction; Intron; Structural unit; Ribozyme; Three dimensional structure; Domain structure; Molecular structure; Tertiary structure; Molecular interaction; Crystalline structure
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5282.1696

The crystal structure of a group I intron domain reveals an unexpected motif that mediates both intra- and intermolecular interactions. At three separate locations in the 160-nucleotide domain, adjacent adenosines in the sequence lie side-by-side and form a pseudo-base pair within a helix. This adenosine platform opens the minor groove for base stacking or base pairing with nucleotides from a noncontiguous RNA strand. The platform motif has a distinctive chemical modification signature that may enable its detection in other structured RNAs. The ability of this motif to facilitate higher order folding provides one explanation for the abundance of adenosine residues in internal loops of many RNAs.