Abstract
In contrast to double-stranded DNA, there has so far been little evidence that double-stranded RNA can undergo major conformational transitions. We have investigated the conformation in different conditions of the double-stranded RNA molecule poly(G-C)·poly(G-C), by NMR, circular dichroism and absorbance spectroscopy. We report here evidence obtained by these different spectroscopic techniques that poly(G-C)·poly(G-C) undergoes a transition from the A-form to a left-handed Z-form in conditions of high ionic strength and at temperatures above 35°C. This conformational transition may be of relevance to the biological situations in which double-stranded RNA occurs, such as in ribosomes and in some viruses.
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Hall, K., Cruz, P., Tinoco, I. et al. ‘Z-RNA’—a left-handed RNA double helix. Nature 311, 584–586 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/311584a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/311584a0
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