Kissing stem-loop
Kissing stem loop, or kissing interaction, is formed in RNA when two bases between two hairpin loops pair. These intra- and intermolecular kissing interactions are important in forming the tertiary or quaternary structure of many RNAs.[1]
RNA kissing interactions, also called loop-loop pseudoknots, occur when the unpaired nucleotides in one hairpin loop, base pair with the unpaired nucleotides in another hairpin loop. [2] When the hairpin loops are located on separate RNA molecules, their intermolecular interaction is called a kissing complex. These interactions generally form between stem-loops. However, stable complexes have been observed containing only two intermolecular Watson–Crick base pairs. [3][4]
Biological significance
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules perform their function in living cells by adopting specific and highly complex 3-dimensional structures. It is believed that recombination may be intitated by the kissing loops. Recombination is critical to successful evolution, especially in the adaptation and survival of viruses. [5][6]
See also
References
- ^ http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/5/949.full.pdf
- ^ Nowakowski, J. & Tinoco, I., Jr. (1997)Semin. Virology.8,153–165.
- ^ Kim, C. H. & Tinoco, I., Jr. (2000) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 9396 –9401.
- ^ http://www.pnas.org/content/98/14/7730.full.pdf
- ^ Chen, Yu, and Varani, Gabriele(Jun 2010) RNA Structure. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester.
- ^ "doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001339.pub2". Els.net. Retrieved 2013-06-03.