The multiple flavors of GoU pairs in RNA

Eric Westhof; Marat Yusupov; Gulnara Yusupova

doi:10.1002/jmr.2782

The multiple flavors of GoU pairs in RNA

J Mol Recognit. 2019 Aug;32(8):e2782. doi: 10.1002/jmr.2782. Epub 2019 Apr 29.

Authors

Eric Westhof¹, Marat Yusupov², Gulnara Yusupova²

Affiliations

¹ Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, Institut de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire du CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
² Department of Integrated Structural Biology, Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology, INSERM, U964, CNRS, UMR7104, Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France.

Abstract

Wobble GU pairs (or GoU) occur frequently within double-stranded RNA helices interspersed within the standard G═C and A─U Watson-Crick pairs. However, other types of GoU pairs interacting on their Watson-Crick edges have been observed. The structural and functional roles of such alternative GoU pairs are surprisingly diverse and reflect the various pairings G and U can form by exploiting all the subtleties of their electronic configurations. Here, the structural characteristics of the GoU pairs are updated following the recent crystallographic structures of functional ribosomal complexes and the development in our understanding of ribosomal translation.

Keywords: GoU pair; anticodon; codon; mRNA; miscoding; ribosome; tRNA; tautomer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Base Pairing
Crystallography, X-Ray
Models, Molecular
Nucleic Acid Conformation
RNA, Messenger / chemistry*
RNA, Transfer / chemistry*

Substances

RNA, Messenger
RNA, Transfer