Background: Telomerase requires the interaction of conserved protein and RNA motifs. Results: Site-directed hydroxyl radical probing and mutagenesis identified an essential region of RNA-protein interactions. Conclusion:The conserved CP2 protein motif is proximal to a conserved telomerase RNA motif. Significance: Understanding how telomerase protein and RNA subunits interact allows us to begin constructing a more complete mechanistic model of telomerase function.

RNAs are relatively difficult to crystallize because many sequence variants must be tested to obtain suitable crystal contacts. In this issue of Structure, Shoffner et al. (2018) report an in crystallo selection procedure that allows for the rapid generation of new RNA crystal contacts.