title: Detecting RNA tertiary folding by sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation.
abstract: Analytical Ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a highly sensitive technique for detecting global conformational features of biological molecules and molecular interactions in solution. When operated in a sedimentation velocity (SV) recording mode, it reports precisely on the hydrodynamic properties of a molecule, including its sedimentation and diffusion coefficients, which can be used to calculate its hydrated radius, as well as, to estimate its global shape. This chapter describes the application of SV-AUC to the detection of global conformational changes accompanying equilibrium counterion induced tertiary folding of structured RNA molecules. A brief theoretical background is provided at the beginning, aimed at familiarizing the readers with the operational principle of the technique; then, a detailed set of instructions is provided on how to design, conduct, and analyze the data from an equilibrium RNA folding experiment, using SV-AUC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Somdeb
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitra
mesh_terms: D057446:Hydrodynamics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D059370:RNA Folding; D014461:Ultracentrifugation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012313:RNA