RRNA

To date, RNA calculations have been performed on a variety of systems of different topologies including helical duplexes, hairpin loops, and single strands from tRNA, rRNA, and ribozymes. In a simulation of an RNA tetraloop of the GRNA type, which is very common and known to be remarkably stable, it was found that without imposing any external infonnation the simulation found the right confonnation even when it started from the wrong one [72]. Studies have used Ewald summation methods to handle the... 

Ri/rrna/ of Flow VtsuahzJtion and Image Processing, Begcll House, Inc., ISSN 1065- i(J90. 

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) Ribosomes, which aie about two thirds nucleic acid and... 

Ribosomes, the supramolecular assemblies where protein synthesis occurs, are about 65% RNA of the ribosomal RNA type. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecules fold into characteristic secondary structures as a consequence of intramolecular hydrogen bond interactions (marginal figure). The different species of rRNA are generally referred to according to their sedimentation coefficients (see the Appendix to Chapter 5), which are a rough measure of their relative size (Table 11.2 and Figure 11.25). 

FIGURE 12.39 The proposed secondary structure for E. coli 16S rRNA, based on comparative sequence analysis in which the folding pattern is assumed to be conserved across different species. The molecule can be subdivided into four domains—I, II, III, and IV—on the basis of contiguous stretches of the chain that are closed by long-range base-pairing interactions. I, the 5 -domain, includes nucleotides 27 through 556. II, the central domain, runs from nucleotide 564 to 912. Two domains comprise the 3 -end of the molecule. Ill, the major one, comprises nucleotides 923 to 1391. IV, the 3 -terminal domain, covers residues 1392 to 1541. 

If a phylogenetic comparison is made of the 16S-Iike rRNAs from an archae-bacterium Halobacterium volcanii), a eubacterium E. coli), and a eukaryote (the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae), a striking similarity in secondary structure emerges (Figure 12.40). Remarkably, these secondary structures are similar despite the fact that the nucleotide sequences of these rRNAs themselves exhibit a low degree of similarity. Apparently, evolution is acting at the level of rRNA secondary structure, not rRNA nucleotide sequence. Similar conserved folding patterns are seen for the 23S-Iike and 5S-Iike rRNAs that reside in the... 

FIGURE 12.40 Phylogenetic comparison of secondary structures of 16S-Uke rRNAs from (a) a eubacterium (E. coli), (b) an archaebacterium (H. volcanii), (c) a eukaryote S. cerevisiae, a yeast). 

Despite the unity in secondary structural patterns, little is known about the three-dimensional, or tertiary, structure of rRNAs. Even less is known about the quaternary interactions that occur when ribosomal proteins combine with rRNAs and when the ensuing ribonucleoprotein complexes, the small and large subunits, come together to form the complete ribosome. Furthermore, assignments of functional roles to rRNA molecules are still tentative and approximate. (We return to these topics in Chapter 33.)... 

FIGURE 14.23 RNA splicing in TetraAjimejta rRNA matnradon (a) the gnanosine-mediated reaction involved in the antocatalytic excision of the Tetrahymena rRNA intron, and (b) the overall splicing process. The cyclized intron is formed via nncleophilic attack of the 3 -OH on the phosphodiester bond that is 15 nncleotides from the 5 -GA end of the spliced-ont intron. Cyclization frees a linear 15-mer with a 5 -GA end. 

Other examples include rifampin resistance due to mutations in the ipoB gene encoding the (3-subunit of RNA polymerase, or oxazolidinone resistance due to a G2576T mutation in the gene for the 23 S rRNA as central part of the 50S large ribosomal subunit. Macrolide resistance is based upon the alteration of nucleotide A2058 by a point mutation. 

---