A small RNA that cooperatively senses two stacked metabolites in one pocket for gene control
By Griffin M. Schroeder, Chapin E. Cavender, Maya E Blau, J. Jenkins, D. Mathews, J. Wedekind. 2022
23 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Riboswitches are structured non-coding RNAs often located upstream of essential genes in bacterial messenger RNAs. Such RNAs regulate expression of downstream genes by recognizing a specific cellular effector. Although nearly 50 riboswitch classes are known, only a handful recognize multiple effectors. Here, we report the 2.60-Å resolution co-crystal structure of a class I type I preQ 1 -sensing riboswitch that reveals two effectors stacked atop one another in a single binding pocket. These effectors bind with positive cooperativity in vitro and both molecules are necessary for gene regulation in bacterial cells. Stacked effector recognition appears to be a hallmark of the largest subgroup of preQ 1 riboswitches, including those from pathogens such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae . We postulate that binding to stacked effectors arose in the RNA World to closely position two substrates for RNA-mediated catalysis. These findings expand known effector recognition capabilities of riboswitches and have implications for antimicrobial development. Riboswitches contain an aptamer domain that recognizes a metabolite and an expression platform that regulates gene expression. Here the authors report the crystal structure of a preQ 1 -sensing riboswitch from Carnobacterium antarcticus that shows two metabolites in a single binding pocket.
Subfields: Genetics, Molecular Biology
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In Genetics
In Molecular Biology
- Andriy Kryshtafovych
- John Moult
- Janusz M. Bujnicki
- Rhiju Das
- Torsten Schwede
- Yang Zhang
- Rachael Kretsch
- E. Andersen
Citations in the corpus
- RNA target highlights in CASP15: Evaluation of predicted models by structure providers (2023, methodology): “Consistent with the covariation model 33 (Figure 2A), the crystal structure revealed a highly compact H-type pseudoknot (Figure 2B) featuring two helical regions, P1 and P2, II preQ 1 riboswitches 34 – 38 .”