Division of Materials Science and Chemistry, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
Division of Materials Science and Chemistry, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2020 May 21;526(1):261-266. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.02.168. Epub 2020 Mar 21.
The last several years have seen exciting advances in the understanding of the structure and function of higher-order structures of RNA. Expression levels of some specific genes were shown to be directly regulated by environmentally-responsive formation of certain secondary structures such as stem-loops and pseudoknots. Even among these noncanonical structures, RNA G-quadruplexes, which form on the regions of guanine-rich sequences in mRNA, are highly stable structures that are involved in a variety of biological processes. However, many questions regarding the biological significance of RNA G-quadruplexes remain unsettled, mainly because it is difficult to locate the structures in mRNA. This review focuses on emerging methods that locate RNA G-quadruplexes in mRNA by computational and biochemical techniques. In addition, recent reports on the biological functions of RNA G-quadruplexes are also covered to highlight their various roles in cells, such as in regulating mRNA processing and translation.
过去几年中，人们对 RNA 高级结构的结构和功能有了令人兴奋的新认识。已经表明，某些特定基因的表达水平可以通过环境响应形成某些二级结构（如茎环和假结）来直接调节。即使在这些非规范结构中，形成于 mRNA 中富含鸟嘌呤序列区域的 RNA G-四链体也是高度稳定的结构，参与多种生物过程。然而，关于 RNA G-四链体的生物学意义仍有许多悬而未决的问题，主要是因为很难在 mRNA 中定位这些结构。这篇综述重点介绍了通过计算和生化技术定位 mRNA 中 RNA G-四链体的新方法。此外，还介绍了最近关于 RNA G-四链体生物学功能的报告，以强调它们在细胞中的各种作用，如调节 mRNA 加工和翻译。
