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Summary: Molecular Cell
Article
Invariant U2 snRNA Nucleotides
Form a Stem Loop to Recognize
the Intron Early in Splicing
Rhonda Perriman1,* and Manuel Ares, Jr.1
1Center for Molecular Biology of RNA, Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
*Correspondence: perriman@biology.ucsc.edu
DOI 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.02.036
SUMMARY
U2 snRNA-intron branchpoint pairing is a critical step
in pre-mRNA recognition by the splicing apparatus,
but the mechanism by which these two RNAs engage
each other is unknown. Here, we identify a U2 snRNA
structure, the branchpoint-interacting stem loop
(BSL), which presents the U2 nucleotides that will
contact the intron. We provide evidence that the
BSL forms prior to interaction with the intron and is
disrupted by the DExD/H protein Prp5p during
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