Tina Uroda, Eleni Anastasakou, Annalisa Rossi, Jean-Marie Teulon, Jean-Luc Pellequer, Paolo Annibale, Ombeline Pessey, Alberto Inga, Isabel Chillón, Marco Marcia
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key regulatory molecules, but unlike with other RNAs, the direct link between their tertiary structure motifs and their function has proven elusive. Here we report structural and functional studies of human maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3), a tumor suppressor lncRNA that modulates the p53 response. We found that, in an evolutionary conserved region of MEG3, two distal motifs interact by base complementarity to form alternative, mutually exclusive pseudoknot structures ("kissing loops")...
September 5, 2019: Molecular Cell