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Solution structure of a GAAA tetraloop receptor RNA
Author(s) -
Butcher Samuel E.,
Dieckmann Thorsten,
Feigon Juli
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/16.24.7490
Subject(s) - biology , rna , ribozyme , stem loop , nucleic acid structure , helix (gastropod) , crystallography , pseudoknot , stacking , base pair , biophysics , biochemistry , dna , physics , nuclear magnetic resonance , chemistry , gene , ecology , snail
The GAAA tetraloop receptor is an 11‐nucleotide RNA sequence that participates in the tertiary folding of a variety of large catalytic RNAs by providing a specific binding site for GAAA tetraloops. Here we report the solution structure of the isolated tetraloop receptor as solved by multidimensional, heteronuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The internal loop of the tetraloop receptor has three adenosines stacked in a cross‐strand or zipper‐like fashion. This arrangement produces a high degree of base stacking within the asymmetric internal loop without extrahelical bases or kinking the helix. Additional interactions within the internal loop include a U·U mismatch pair and a G·U wobble pair. A comparison with the crystal structure of the receptor RNA bound to its tetraloop shows that a conformational change has to occur upon tetraloop binding, which is in good agreement with previous biochemical data. A model for an alternative binding site within the receptor is proposed based on the NMR structure, phylogenetic data and previous crystallographic structures of tetraloop interactions.