title: Evidence of G-A/A-G pair, not A-G/G-A pair, in SECIS element.
abstract: The decoding of selenocysteine (Sec) codon for selenoprotein translation in animals requires the SECIS (selenocysteine insertion sequence) element in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of selenoprotein mRNA. It has been hypothesized that SECIS has G-A/A-G pairs, which are non-Watson-Crick base pairs, and are one of the most indispensable parts for Sec translation. However, DNA structure research has shown that the DNA loop structure was closed by a G-A pair (1), although there is little evidence for G-A stability in SECIS. Our aim was to investigate the existence of a G-A/A-G base pair by electrophoretic mobility and Tm measurement, and we found that G-A/A-G bases formed a stable pair, but A-G/G-A bases did not.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Science, Nagoya City University, Tanabe-dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizutani
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000737:chemistry; D000225:Adenine / Q000737:chemistry*; D020029:Base Pairing; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D006147:Guanine / Q000737:chemistry*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017279:Selenocysteine; D051140:Selenoproteins
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D003062:Codon; D011506:Proteins; D051140:Selenoproteins; D017279:Selenocysteine; D006147:Guanine; D004247:DNA; D000225:Adenine