title: A complete conformational map for RNA.
abstract: A simple stereochemical framework for understanding RNA structure has remained elusive to date. We present a comprehensive conformational map for two nucleoside-5',3'-diphosphates and for a truncated dinucleotide derived from a grid search of all potential conformers using hard sphere steric exclusion criteria to define allowed conformers. The eight-dimensional conformational space is presented as a series of two-dimensional projections. These projections reveal several well-defined allowed and disallowed regions which correlate well with data obtained from X-ray crystallography of both large and small RNA molecules. Furthermore, the two-dimensional projections show that consecutive and ribose ring-proximal torsion angles are interdependent, while more distant torsion angles are not. Remarkably, using steric criteria alone, it is possible to generate a predictive conformational map for RNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics & Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205-2105, USA.
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Draper
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Rose
mesh_terms: D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012313:RNA