Haasnoot P C Joost, Bol John F, Olsthoorn René C L
Institute of Biology, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Oct 28;100(22):12596-600. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2135413100. Epub 2003 Oct 20.
A pseudotriloop is formed by transloop base pairing between the first (5') and the fifth nucleotide in a hexanucleotide RNA loop ("hexaloop") to subtend a triloop of nucleotides 2-4. This structure has been found in hairpins involved in the regulation of iron metabolism in mammalian cells and in transcription of plant virus subgenomic RNA. Several hexaloop hairpins, including HIV-transactivation-responsive element and hepatitis B virus , potentially adopt a pseudotriloop conformation. Here we show that an RNA plant virus whose replication depends on a conventional triloop hairpin can be used to verify the existence of pseudotriloop structures in vivo. Our data suggest that the pseudotriloop may represent a common motif in RNA-protein recognition.
假三叶草环是由六核苷酸RNA环(“六元环”)中第一个(5')和第五个核苷酸之间的跨环碱基配对形成的,以对核苷酸2-4的三叶草环构成支撑。这种结构已在参与哺乳动物细胞铁代谢调节的发夹结构以及植物病毒亚基因组RNA的转录中被发现。包括HIV反式激活应答元件和乙型肝炎病毒在内的几种六元环发夹结构可能会呈现假三叶草环构象。在这里,我们表明一种复制依赖于传统三叶草环发夹结构的RNA植物病毒可用于在体内验证假三叶草环结构的存在。我们的数据表明,假三叶草环可能代表RNA与蛋白质识别中的一种常见基序。