Theory Meets Experiment: Metal Ion Effects in HCV Genomic RNA Kissing Complex Formation.

The long-range base pairing between the 5BSL3. 2 and 3'X domains in hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomic RNA is essential for viral replication. Experimental evidence points to the critical role of metal ions, especially Mg ions, in the formation of the 5BSL3.2:3'X kissing complex. Furthermore, NMR studies suggested an important ion-dependent conformational switch in the kissing process. However, for a long time, mechanistic understanding of the ion effects for the process has been unclear. Recently, computational modeling based on the Vfold RNA folding model and the partial charge-based tightly bound ion (PCTBI) model, in combination with the NMR data, revealed novel physical insights into the role of metal ions in the 5BSL3.2-3'X system. The use of the PCTBI model, which accounts for the ion correlation and fluctuation, gives reliable predictions for the ion-dependent electrostatic free energy landscape and ion-induced population shift of the 5BSL3.2:3'X kissing complex. Furthermore, the predicted ion binding sites offer insights about how ion-RNA interactions shift the conformational equilibrium. The integrated theory-experiment study shows that Mg ions may be essential for HCV viral replication. Moreover, the observed Mg-dependent conformational equilibrium may be an adaptive property of the HCV genomic RNA such that the equilibrium is optimized to the intracellular Mg concentration in liver cells for efficient viral replication.