Ribozyme self-splicing in action (IMAGE)
Caption
An animation depicts the Tetrahymena ribozyme – a chain of RNA building blocks known as nucleotides – as a long, narrow ribbon with many twists and folds, and reveals how one of its ends moves while binding to two smaller RNA molecules. The tail end of the ribozyme (orange) swings into a new position along with a few more nucleotides (purple). Then the tail and its extension bind with the two RNA molecules (green and blue) , forming a double helix. This mimics one of the key steps in the process where the ribozyme cuts itself out of the middle of a strand of RNA and splices the two loose ends back together. The animation is based on images made at SLAC and Stanford that reveal the molecular structures in unprecedented detail.
Credit
Movie by Grigore Pintilie/Stanford University
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Original content