sRNA Structural Modeling Based on NMR Data

Abstract

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) play vital roles in gene expression regulation and RNA interference. To comprehend their molecular mechanisms and develop therapeutic approaches, determining the accurate three-dimensional structure of sRNAs is crucial. Although nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for structural biology, obtaining high-resolution structures of sRNAs using NMR data alone can be challenging. In such cases, structural modeling can provide additional details about RNA structures. In this context, we present a protocol for the structural modeling of sRNA using the SimRNA method based on sparse NMR constraints. To demonstrate the efficacy of our method, we provide selected examples of NMR spectra and RNA structures, specifically for the second stem-loop of DsrA sRNA.

Keywords: Imino proton; NMR spectroscopy; RNA structure; SimRNA; Structural modeling.