| | |
Summary: Stabilized folding of RNA T-loops
Probing the structural hierarchy and energy
landscape of an RNA T-loop hairpin
NSF-DMR05-20415
Joan-Emma Shea, Luc Jaeger
IRG-3
Supramolecular structures consisting of self-
assembled RNA motifs are emerging as a novel
class of biomaterials with significant implications
in medicine and drug discovery. The T-loop
motif is an important recurrent RNA structural
building block and to probe the hierarchical
organization and energy landscape of the T-
loop, we performed replica exchange molecular
dynamics simulations of a T-loop hairpin. Our
simulations reveal that the T-loop hairpin shows
a highly rugged energy landscape featuring
multiple local minima with a transition state for
folding consisting of partially zipped states. Our
results suggest that the stability and folding of
|
