RNA Strand (IMAGE)

International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA)

RNA Strand

Caption

Pictured is a computer-generated RNA structure tied in a trefoil knot. C. Micheletti et al. screened the several thousand RNA chains in the Protein Data Bank for the presence of knots. Only three knotted instances were found, though their comparison with higher resolution homologs indicates that their knotted state is likely artifactual. The practical absence of physical knots in known RNA chains contrasts with the documented incidence of knots in other biomolecules (proteins and viral DNA) and suggests that thermodynamic or kinetic mechanisms may be at play for minimizing the entanglement of naturally-occurring structured RNAs.

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SISSA (Micheletti)

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