Abstract
Pseudoknots play critical roles in packing the active structure of various functional RNAs. The importance of the P3-P7 pseudoknot in refolding of group I intron ribozymes has been recently appreciated, while little is known about the pseudoknot function in co-transcriptional folding. Here we used the Candida group I intron as a model to address the question. We show that co-transcriptional folding of the active self-splicing intron is twice as fast as refolding. The P3-P7 pseudoknot folds slowly during co-transcriptional folding at a rate constant similar to the folding of the active ribozyme, and folding of both P3-P7 and P1-P10 pseudoknots are inhibited by antisense oligonucleotides. We conclude that when RNA folding is coupled with transcription, formation of pseudoknot structures dominates the productive folding pathway and serves as a rate-limiting step in producing the self-splicing competent Candida intron.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1986-1992 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | RNA |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Antisense oligonucleotide (AON)
- Candida albicans
- Pseudoknot
- Ribozyme
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology