The roles of structural dynamics in the cellular functions of RNAs

LR Ganser, ML Kelly, D Herschlag… - … reviews Molecular cell …, 2019 - nature.com
RNAs fold into 3D structures that range from simple helical elements to complex tertiary
structures and quaternary ribonucleoprotein assemblies. The functions of many regulatory …

Naturally occurring tRNAs with non-canonical structures

N Krahn, JT Fischer, D Söll - Frontiers in Microbiology, 2020 - frontiersin.org
Transfer RNA (tRNA) is the central molecule in genetically encoded protein synthesis. Most
tRNA species were found to be very similar in structure: the well-known cloverleaf secondary …

Capturing RNA folding free energy with coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations

DR Bell, SY Cheng, H Salazar, P Ren - Scientific reports, 2017 - nature.com
We introduce a coarse-grained RNA model for molecular dynamics simulations, RACER
(RnA CoarsE-gRained). RACER achieves accurate native structure prediction for a number …

MD simulations of tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: dynamics, folding, binding, and allostery

R Li, LM Macnamara, JD Leuchter… - International Journal of …, 2015 - mdpi.com
While tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are classes of biomolecules that have been
extensively studied for decades, the finer details of how they carry out their fundamental …

Pressure pushes tRNALys3 into excited conformational states

J Wang, T Koduru, B Harish… - Proceedings of the …, 2023 - National Acad Sciences
Conformational dynamics play essential roles in RNA function. However, detailed structural
characterization of excited states of RNA remains challenging. Here, we apply high …

Interplay between substrate recognition, 5′ end tRNA processing and methylation activity of human mitochondrial RNase P

A Karasik, CA Fierke, M Koutmos - Rna, 2019 - rnajournal.cshlp.org
Human mitochondrial ribonuclease P (mtRNase P) is an essential three-protein complex
that catalyzes the 5′ end maturation of mitochondrial precursor tRNAs (pre-tRNAs) …

Disease-associated mutations in mitochondrial precursor tRNAs affect binding, m1R9 methylation, and tRNA processing by mtRNase P

A Karasik, CA Wilhelm, CA Fierke, M Koutmos - RNA, 2021 - rnajournal.cshlp.org
Mitochondrial diseases linked to mutations in mitochondrial (mt) tRNA sequences are
common. However, the contributions of these tRNA mutations to the development of …

Intrinsic properties of tRNA molecules as deciphered via Bayesian network and distribution divergence analysis

S Branciamore, G Gogoshin, M Di Giulio, AS Rodin - Life, 2018 - mdpi.com
The identity/recognition of tRNAs, in the context of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (and other
molecules), is a complex phenomenon that has major implications ranging from the origins …

Tuning RNA folding and function through rational design of junction topology

M Daher, AM Mustoe, A Morriss-Andrews… - Nucleic Acids …, 2017 - academic.oup.com
Structured RNAs such as ribozymes must fold into specific 3D structures to carry out their
biological functions. While it is well-known that architectural features such as flexible …

Synthetic tyrosine tRNA molecules with noncanonical secondary structures

K Sakamoto, A Hayashi - International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2018 - mdpi.com
The L-shape form of tRNA is maintained by tertiary interactions occurring in the core. Base
changes in this domain can cause structural defects and impair tRNA activity. Here, we …