Kolchanov N A, Titov I I, Vlassova I E, Vlassov V V
Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia.
Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1996;53:131-96. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60144-0.
Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) are one of the most important types of biopolymers. RNAs play key roles in the storage and multiplication of genetic information. They are important in catalysis and RNA splicing and are the most important steps of translation. This chapter describes experimental methods for probing RNA structure and theoretical methods allowing the prediction of thermodynamically favorable RNA folding. These methods are complementary and together they provide a powerful approach to determine the structure of RNAs. The three-dimensional (tertiary) structure of RNA is formed by hydrogen-bonding among functional groups of nucleosides in different regions of the molecule, by coordination of polyvalent cations, and by stacking between the double-stranded regions present in the RNA. The tertiary structures of only some small RNAs have been determined by high-resolution X-ray crystallographic analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. The most widely used approach for the investigation of RNA structure is chemical and enzymatic probing, in combination with theoretical methods and phylogenetic studies allowing the prediction of variants of RNA folding. Investigations of RNA structures with different enzymatic and chemical probes can provide detailed data allowing the identification of double-stranded regions of the molecules and nucleotides involved in tertiary interactions.
核糖核酸（RNAs）是最重要的生物聚合物类型之一。RNA在遗传信息的储存和复制中起着关键作用。它们在催化和RNA剪接中很重要，并且是翻译的最重要步骤。本章描述了探测RNA结构的实验方法以及允许预测热力学上有利的RNA折叠的理论方法。这些方法是互补的，它们共同提供了一种强大的方法来确定RNA的结构。RNA的三维（三级）结构是由分子不同区域中核苷官能团之间的氢键、多价阳离子的配位以及RNA中双链区域之间的堆积形成的。只有一些小RNA的三级结构已通过高分辨率X射线晶体学分析和核磁共振分析确定。研究RNA结构最广泛使用的方法是化学和酶促探测，结合理论方法和系统发育研究，以预测RNA折叠的变体。用不同的酶和化学探针研究RNA结构可以提供详细的数据，从而识别分子的双链区域和参与三级相互作用的核苷酸。
