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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...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8624864 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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