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Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way

Our understanding of RNA structure has lagged behind that of proteins and most other biological polymers, largely because of its ability to adopt multiple, and often very different, functional conformations within a single molecule. Flexibility and multifunctionality appear to be its hallmarks. Conv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fairman, Connor W., Lever, Andrew M. L., Kenyon, Julia C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8624864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34834937
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13112130
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author Fairman, Connor W.
Lever, Andrew M. L.
Kenyon, Julia C.
author_facet Fairman, Connor W.
Lever, Andrew M. L.
Kenyon, Julia C.
author_sort Fairman, Connor W.
collection PubMed
description Our understanding of RNA structure has lagged behind that of proteins and most other biological polymers, largely because of its ability to adopt multiple, and often very different, functional conformations within a single molecule. Flexibility and multifunctionality appear to be its hallmarks. Conventional biochemical and biophysical techniques all have limitations in solving RNA structure and to address this in recent years we have seen the emergence of a wide diversity of techniques applied to RNA structural analysis and an accompanying appreciation of its ubiquity and versatility. Viral RNA is a particularly productive area to study in that this economy of function within a single molecule admirably suits the minimalist lifestyle of viruses. Here, we review the major techniques that are being used to elucidate RNA conformational flexibility and exemplify how the structure and function are, as in all biology, tightly linked.
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spelling pubmed-86248642021-11-27 Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way Fairman, Connor W. Lever, Andrew M. L. Kenyon, Julia C. Viruses Review Our understanding of RNA structure has lagged behind that of proteins and most other biological polymers, largely because of its ability to adopt multiple, and often very different, functional conformations within a single molecule. Flexibility and multifunctionality appear to be its hallmarks. Conventional biochemical and biophysical techniques all have limitations in solving RNA structure and to address this in recent years we have seen the emergence of a wide diversity of techniques applied to RNA structural analysis and an accompanying appreciation of its ubiquity and versatility. Viral RNA is a particularly productive area to study in that this economy of function within a single molecule admirably suits the minimalist lifestyle of viruses. Here, we review the major techniques that are being used to elucidate RNA conformational flexibility and exemplify how the structure and function are, as in all biology, tightly linked. MDPI 2021-10-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8624864/ /pubmed/34834937 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13112130 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Fairman, Connor W.
Lever, Andrew M. L.
Kenyon, Julia C.
Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title_full Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title_fullStr Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title_short Evaluating RNA Structural Flexibility: Viruses Lead the Way
title_sort evaluating rna structural flexibility: viruses lead the way
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8624864/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34834937
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13112130
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