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Riboswitch folding: One at a time and step by step
María Teresa Fernández-Luna and Juan Miranda-Ríos
volume 5 | issue 1
january/february/march 2008Subscribe to this journal for $59/year
Riboswitches are mRNAs that regulate gene expression upon specific binding of a small metabolite (vitamin cofactors, nucleobases, amino acids, carbohydrates or even metal ions). Riboswitches must fold into very intricate 3D structures to accomplish their function. Single-molecule studies are very powerful techniques that allow the characterization and elucidation of complex folding paths as well as the identification of intermediate conformational states that an RNA must traverse to acquire its native, functional structure. We review some recent reports on the folding of the adenine-binding riboswitch as studied by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and force-measuring optical tweezers (FMOT) techniques.
Authors
María Teresa Fernández-Luna
Departamento de Microbiología Molecular Instituto de Biotecnología; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
Juan Miranda-Ríos
Departamento de Microbiología Molecular Instituto de Biotecnología; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Cuernavaca, Morelos, México