Nucleic acid interactions complementarity

The anticodon region consists of seven nucleotides, and it recognizes the three-letter codon in mRNA (Figure 38-2). The sequence read from the 3 to 5 direction in that anticodon loop consists of a variable base-modified purine-XYZ-pyrimidine-pyrimidine-5h Note that this direction of reading the anticodon is 3 " to 5 whereas the genetic code in Table 38—1 is read 5 to 3 since the codon and the anticodon loop of the mRNA and tRNA molecules, respectively, are antipar-allel in their complementarity just like all other inter-molecular interactions between nucleic acid strands. 

Figure 1. Catalysis and template action of RNA and proteins. Catalytic action of one RNA molecule on another one is shown in the simplest case, the "hammerhead ribozyme." The substrate is a tridecanucleotide forming two double-helical stacks together with the ribozyme (n = 34) in the confolded complex. Tertiary interactions determine the detailed structure of the hammerhead ribozyme complex and are important for the enzymatic reaction cleaving one of the two linkages between the two stacks. Substrate specificity of ribozyme catalysis is caused by secondary structure in the cofolded complex between substrate and catalyst. Autocatalytic replication of oligonucleotide and nucleic acid is based on G = C and A = U complementarity in the hydrogen bonded complexes of nucleotides forming a Watson-Crick type double helix. Gunter von Kiedrowski s experi-...

All the interactions between nucleic acid molecules that help express genetic information involve base-pairing between complementary sequences. Complementarity is sometimes defined as selective stickiness. Complementary molecules fit together. In the case of nucleic acids, complementarity generally involves base pairing. For example, mRNA is complementary to one strand of DNA, and the anticodon of tRNA is complementary to the codon in mRNA. Replication, transcription, and translation all involve base-pairing at several levels. 

---