Tucker Brian J, Breaker Ronald R
Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2005 Jun;15(3):342-8. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2005.05.003.
Riboswitches are structured elements typically found in the 5' untranslated regions of mRNAs, where they regulate gene expression by binding to small metabolites. In all examples studied to date, these RNA control elements do not require the involvement of protein factors for metabolite binding. Riboswitches appear to be pervasive in eubacteria, suggesting that this form of regulation is an important mechanism by which metabolic genes are controlled. Recently discovered riboswitch classes have surprisingly complex mechanisms for regulating gene expression and new high-resolution structural models of these RNAs provide insight into the molecular details of metabolite recognition by natural RNA aptamers.
核糖开关是通常存在于mRNA 5'非翻译区的结构化元件，在那里它们通过与小分子代谢物结合来调节基因表达。在迄今为止研究的所有实例中，这些RNA控制元件在代谢物结合时不需要蛋白质因子的参与。核糖开关似乎在真细菌中普遍存在，这表明这种调节形式是控制代谢基因的一种重要机制。最近发现的核糖开关类别具有令人惊讶的复杂基因表达调控机制，这些RNA的新的高分辨率结构模型为天然RNA适体识别代谢物的分子细节提供了深入了解。
