Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Plant Cell. 2023 May 29;35(6):1671-1707. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koad026.
RNA can fold back on itself to adopt a wide range of structures. These range from relatively simple hairpins to intricate 3D folds and can be accompanied by regulatory interactions with both metabolites and macromolecules. The last 50 yr have witnessed elucidation of an astonishing array of RNA structures including transfer RNAs, ribozymes, riboswitches, the ribosome, the spliceosome, and most recently entire RNA structuromes. These advances in RNA structural biology have deepened insight into fundamental biological processes including gene editing, transcription, translation, and structure-based detection and response to temperature and other environmental signals. These discoveries reveal that RNA can be relatively static, like a rock; that it can have catalytic functions of cutting bonds, like scissors; and that it can adopt myriad functional shapes, like paper. We relate these extraordinary discoveries in the biology of RNA structure to the plant way of life. We trace plant-specific discovery of ribozymes and riboswitches, alternative splicing, organellar ribosomes, thermometers, whole-transcriptome structuromes and pan-structuromes, and conclude that plants have a special set of RNA structures that confer unique types of gene regulation. We finish with a consideration of future directions for the RNA structure-function field.
RNA 可以自身折叠以采用广泛的结构。这些结构范围从相对简单的发夹结构到复杂的 3D 折叠结构，并可以伴随着与代谢物和大分子的调节相互作用。在过去的 50 年中，已经阐明了令人惊讶的一系列 RNA 结构，包括转移 RNA、核酶、核糖开关、核糖体、剪接体，以及最近的整个 RNA 结构组。这些 RNA 结构生物学方面的进展加深了对包括基因编辑、转录、翻译以及基于结构的对温度和其他环境信号的检测和响应在内的基本生物学过程的认识。这些发现表明，RNA 可以相对静态，就像岩石一样；它可以具有切割键的催化功能，就像剪刀一样；并且它可以采用多种功能形状，就像纸张一样。我们将 RNA 结构生物学中的这些非凡发现与植物的生活方式联系起来。我们追溯了核酶和核糖开关、选择性剪接、细胞器核糖体、温度计、全转录组结构组和泛结构组的植物特异性发现，并得出结论，植物具有一套特殊的 RNA 结构，赋予其独特类型的基因调控。最后，我们考虑了 RNA 结构-功能领域的未来方向。
