Skip Navigation



Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on May 11, 2009
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkp350
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (4173K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (531K) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
37/12/4149    most recent
gkp350v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kiliszek, A.
Right arrow Articles by Rypniewski, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kiliszek, A.
Right arrow Articles by Rypniewski, W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2009 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Structural Biology

Structural insights into CUG repeats containing the ‘stretched U–U wobble’: implications for myotonic dystrophy

Agnieszka Kiliszek, Ryszard Kierzek, Wlodzimierz J. Krzyzosiak and Wojciech Rypniewski*

Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-704 Poznan, Poland

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +48 61 852 8503; Fax: +48 61 852 0532; Email: wojtekr{at}ibch.poznan.pl

Received January 15, 2009. Revised April 22, 2009. Accepted April 23, 2009.

Tracks containing CUG repeats are abundant in human gene transcripts. Their biological role includes modulation of pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA transport and regulation of translation. Expanded forms of CUG runs are associated with pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases, including myotonic dystrophy type 1. We have analysed two crystal structures of RNA duplexes containing the CUG repeats: G(CUG)2C and (CUG)6. The first of the structures, analysed at 1.23 Å resolution, is of an oligomer designed by us. The second model was obtained after ‘detwinning’ the 1.58 Å X-ray data previously deposited in the PDB. The RNA duplexes are in the A-form in which all the C–G pairs form Watson–Crick interactions while all the uridine pairs can be described as U•U cis wobble having only one hydrogen bond between the bases. The residue, which accepts the H-bond, is inclined towards the minor groove. This previously unreported base pairing can be described as ‘stretched U–U wobble’. The regular hydrogen-bonding pattern of interactions with the solvent, the electrostatic charge distribution and surface features indicate the ligand binding potential of the CUG tracks.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.