The secondary structure of HIV-1 pre-mRNA polyadenylation site

What is it about?

To predict the secondary structure of any region located in a long RNA it is necessary to determine an independently folding domain involving this region. Occurrence of G-rich stretches in long RNAs with potential to form G-quadruplexes can facilitate such prediction. In this work we supposed that G-quadruplex in 3-UTR of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) pre-mRNA can serve as a boundary for independent folding of nascent transcript in a functional domain involving a complex poly(A) region. The proteins of polyadenylation machine can stabilize the structure of this domain earlier than it will be involved into tertiary interactions with the rest part of pre-mRNA. Thus we first presented the model of the secondary structure of the complex poly(A) region in HIV-1 pre-mRNA.

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Why is it important?

Use of G-quadruplex as a boundary for independent folding of a long RNA regions

Perspectives