skip to main content


Title: Importance of a tRNA anticodon loop modification and a conserved, noncanonical anticodon stem pairing in tRNA CGG Pro for decoding
Award ID(s):
1808771
NSF-PAR ID:
10106736
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume:
294
Issue:
14
ISSN:
0021-9258
Page Range / eLocation ID:
5281 to 5291
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. null (Ed.)
  2. Conformational dynamics play essential roles in RNA function. However, detailed structural characterization of excited states of RNA remains challenging. Here, we apply high hydrostatic pressure (HP) to populate excited conformational states of tRNA Lys3 , and structurally characterize them using a combination of HP 2D-NMR, HP-SAXS (HP-small-angle X-ray scattering), and computational modeling. HP-NMR revealed that pressure disrupts the interactions of the imino protons of the uridine and guanosine U–A and G–C base pairs of tRNA Lys3 . HP-SAXS profiles showed a change in shape, but no change in overall extension of the transfer RNA (tRNA) at HP. Configurations extracted from computational ensemble modeling of HP-SAXS profiles were consistent with the NMR results, exhibiting significant disruptions to the acceptor stem, the anticodon stem, and the D-stem regions at HP. We propose that initiation of reverse transcription of HIV RNA could make use of one or more of these excited states. 
    more » « less