title: Additional Watson-Crick interactions suggest a structural core in large subunit ribosomal RNA.
abstract: Two new Watson-Crick type interactions in 23S-like ribosomal RNA have been identified by comparative sequence analysis. These interactions, A1269/U2011 and C1270/G2010 (E. coli numbering) along with the previously proposed A1262/U2017 suggest an anti-parallel helical arrangement characteristic of secondary structure in the 1265/2015 region of 23S rRNA. Nested within these three interactions are three universal juxtapositions which in principle allow the formation of an irregular helix containing two additional A-G interactions and a universal A-U pair. Whether or not this extended helix is biologically significant is uncertain. The proponderance of interactions in the 1265/2015 region and its location relative to the known structural domains of 23S rRNA suggest that this region may be part of a central structural core similar to that already known in 16S rRNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemical & Biophysical Sciences, University of Houston, Texas 77204.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Haselman
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Gutell
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jurka
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S
chemical_list: D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S