Pan J, Thirumalai D, Woodson S A
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park 20742-2021, USA.
J Mol Biol. 1997 Oct 17;273(1):7-13. doi: 10.1006/jmbi.1997.1311.
Folding kinetics of large RNAs are just beginning to be investigated. We show that the Tetrahymena self-splicing RNA partitions into a population that rapidly reaches the native state, and a slowly folding population that is trapped in metastable misfolded structures. Transitions from the misfolded structures to the native state involve partial unfolding. The total yield of native RNA is increased by iterative annealing of the inactive population, and mildly denaturing conditions increase the rate of folding at physiological temperatures. These results provide the first evidence that an RNA can fold by multiple parallel paths.
大型RNA的折叠动力学才刚刚开始被研究。我们发现，四膜虫自剪接RNA可分为快速达到天然状态的群体和被困在亚稳态错误折叠结构中缓慢折叠的群体。从错误折叠结构到天然状态的转变涉及部分解折叠。通过对非活性群体进行迭代退火可提高天然RNA的总产量，并且温和的变性条件可提高生理温度下的折叠速率。这些结果首次证明了RNA可以通过多条平行路径进行折叠。
