Poster abstracts

Poster number 83 submitted by Susan Schroeder

NMR structure of prohead RNA E-Loop hairpin

Steven Harris (Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Oklahoma), Susan J. Schroeder (Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Oklahoma)

Abstract:
The Bacillus subtilis phage phi29 packaging motor requires prohead RNA for genome encapsidation. The NMR structure of the prohead RNA E-loop hairpin, (5’AUUGAGUU), and MC-SYM predictions for prohead RNA E-loops provide a basis for comparative analysis of hairpin structures in prohead and ribosomal RNA. All the hairpins contain a U-turn motif but differ in the first non-canonical pair and backbone orientation. These structures provide benchmarks for further improvements in RNA structure predictions from sequence.

Keywords: prohead RNA, NMR, RNA structure prediction