RNA folds: insights from recent crystal structures.
An RNA fold is the result of packing together two or more coaxial helical stacks. To date, four RNA folds have been determined at near-atomic resolution by X-ray crystallography: transfer RNA, the hammerhead ribozyme, the P4-P6 domain of the Tetrahymena group I intron, and the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme. All four folds result in RNAs that are considerably more compact than isolated A-form duplexes. These structures illustrate, to varying degrees, three modes of fold stabilization: association of complementary molecular surfaces, stabilization of close RNA packing by binding of cations, and stabilization through pseudoknotting.
Ferré-D'Amaré
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Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8114, USA. ferre@csb.yale.edu
Doudna
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JA
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray / Q000379:methods; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000235:genetics; D007438:Introns; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry; D013768:Tetrahymena / Q000235:genetics
D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012313:RNA