Novel base triples in RNA structures revealed by graph theoretical searching methods

BACKGROUND: Highly hydrogen bonded base interactions play a major part in stabilizing the tertiary structures of complex RNA molecules, such as transfer-RNAs, ribozymes and ribosomal RNAs. RESULTS: We describe the graph theoretical identification and searching of highly hydrogen bonded base triples, where each base is involved in at least two hydrogen bonds with the other bases. Our approach correlates theoretically predicted base triples with literature-based compilations and other actual occurrences in crystal structures. The use of ‘fuzzy’ search tolerances has enabled us to discover a number of triple interaction types that have not been previously recorded nor predicted theoretically. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative analyses of different ribosomal RNA structures reveal several conserved base triple motifs in 50S rRNA structures, indicating an important role in structural stabilization and ultimately RNA function.