Metabolite-sensing mRNAs, or "riboswitches," specifically interact with small ligands and direct expression of the genes involved in their metabolism. Riboswitches contain sensing "aptamer" modules, capable of ligand-induced structural changes, and downstream regions, harboring expression-controlling elements. We report the crystal structures of the add A-riboswitch and xpt G-riboswitch aptamer modules that distinguish between bound adenine and guanine with exquisite specificity and modulate expression of two different sets of genes. The riboswitches form tuning fork-like architectures, in which the prongs are held in parallel through hairpin loop interactions, and the internal bubble zippers up to form the purine binding pocket. The bound purines are held by hydrogen bonding interactions involving conserved nucleotides along their entire periphery. Recognition specificity is associated with Watson-Crick pairing of the encapsulated adenine and guanine ligands with uridine and cytosine, respectively.

BackgroundRecent work has identified and mapped a range of posttranscriptional modifications in mRNA, including methylation of the N6 and N1 positions in adenine, pseudouridylation, and methylation of carbon 5 in cytosine (m5C). However, knowledge about the prevalence and transcriptome-wide distribution of m5C is still extremely limited; thus, studies in different cell types, tissues, and organisms are needed to gain insight into possible functions of this modification and implications for other regulatory processes.ResultsWe have carried out an unbiased global analysis of m5C in total and nuclear poly(A) RNA of mouse embryonic stem cells and murine brain. We show that there are intriguing differences in these samples and cell compartments with respect to the degree of methylation, functional classification of methylated transcripts, and position bias within the transcript. Specifically, we observe a pronounced accumulation of m5C sites in the vicinity of the translational start codon, depletion in coding sequences, and mixed patterns of enrichment in the 3′ UTR. Degree and pattern of methylation distinguish transcripts modified in both embryonic stem cells and brain from those methylated in either one of the samples. We also analyze potential correlations between m5C and micro RNA target sites, binding sites of RNA binding proteins, and N6-methyladenosine.ConclusionOur study presents the first comprehensive picture of cytosine methylation in the epitranscriptome of pluripotent and differentiated stages in the mouse. These data provide an invaluable resource for future studies of function and biological significance of m5C in mRNA in mammals.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1139-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

RIG-I is a cytosolic helicase that senses 5’-ppp-RNA contained in negative strand RNA viruses and triggers innate antiviral immune responses. Calorimetric binding studies establish that the RIG-I C-terminal regulatory domain (CTD) binds to blunt-end double-stranded 5’-ppp-RNA a factor of 17 more tightly than to its single-stranded counterpart. Here we report on the crystal structure of RIG-I CTD domain bound to both blunt-ends of a self-complementary 5’-ppp-dsRNA 12-mer, with interactions involving 5’-pp clearly visible in the complex. The structure, supported by mutation studies, defines how a lysine-rich basic cleft within the RIG-I CTD domain sequesters the observable 5’-pp of the bound RNA, with a stacked Phe capping the terminal base pair. Key intermolecular interactions observed in the crystalline state are retained in the complex of 5’-ppp-dsRNA 24-mer and full-length RIG-I under in vivo conditions, as evaluated from the impact of binding pocket RIG-I mutations and 2’-OCH3 RNA modifications on the interferon response.

Small self-cleaving nucleolytic ribozymes contain catalytic domains that accelerate site-specific cleavage/ligation of phosphodiester backbones. We report on the 2.9-Å crystal structure of the env22 twister ribozyme, which adopts a compact tertiary fold stabilized by co-helical stacking, double-pseudoknot formation and long-range pairing interactions. The U-A cleavage site adopts a splayed-apart conformation with the modeled 2′-O of U positioned for in-line attack on the adjacent to-be-cleaved P-O5′ bond. Both an invariant guanosine and a Mg2+ are directly coordinated to the non-bridging phosphate oxygens at the U-A cleavage step, with the former positioned to contribute to catalysis and the latter to structural integrity. The impact of key mutations on cleavage activity identified an invariant guanosine that contributes to catalysis. Our structure of the in-line aligned env22 twister ribozyme is compared with two recently-reported twister ribozymes structures, which adopt similar global folds, but differ in conformational features around the cleavage site.

Riboswitches are gene regulation elements in mRNA that function by specifically responding to metabolites. Although the metabolite-bound states of riboswitches have proven amenable to structure determination efforts, knowledge of the structural features of riboswitches in their ligand-free forms and their ligand-response mechanisms giving rise to regulatory control is lacking. Here we explore the ligand-induced folding process of the S-adenosylmethionine type II (SAM-II) riboswitch using chemical and biophysical methods, including NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy, and single-molecule fluorescence imaging. The data reveal that the unliganded SAM-II riboswitch is dynamic in nature, in that its stem-loop element becomes engaged in a pseudoknot fold through base-pairing with nucleosides in the 3' overhang containing the Shine-Dalgarno sequence. Although the pseudoknot structure is highly transient in the absence of its ligand, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), it becomes conformationally restrained upon ligand recognition, through a conformational capture mechanism. These insights provide a molecular understanding of riboswitch dynamics that shed new light on the mechanism of riboswitch-mediated translational regulation.

The majority of structural efforts addressing RNA's catalytic function have focused on natural ribozymes, which catalyze phosphodiester transfer reactions. By contrast, little is known about how RNA catalyzes other types of chemical reactions. We report here the crystal structures of a ribozyme that catalyzes enantioselective carbon-carbon bond formation by the Diels-Alder reaction in the unbound state and in complex with a reaction product. The RNA adopts a λ-shaped nested pseudoknot architecture whose preformed hydrophobic pocket is precisely complementary in shape to the reaction product. RNA folding and product binding are dictated by extensive stacking and hydrogen bonding, whereas stereoselection is governed by the shape of the catalytic pocket. Catalysis is apparently achieved by a combination of proximity, complementarity and electronic effects. We observe structural parallels in the independently evolved catalytic pocket architectures for ribozyme-and antibody-catalyzed Diels-Alder carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions.The discovery of the catalytic activity of RNA 1,2 and the hypothesis of a prebiotic 'RNA world' 3 have expanded the scope of enzymology to include other biopolymers than proteins. The currently known natural ribozymes catalyze only a narrow range of chemical reactions, namely the hydrolysis and transesterification of internucleotide bonds 4,5 , and probably peptide bond formation 6 . However, in vitro selection and evolution have demonstrated that ribozymes are capable of accelerating a much broader reaction spectrum 7 . This finding and Correspondence should be addressed to A.J. (jaeschke@uni-hd.de) or D.J.P. (pateld@mskcc.org). COMPETING INTERESTS STATEMENTThe authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.Note: Supplementary information is available on the Nature Structural & Molecular Biology website. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript recent discoveries of metabolite-controlled RNA switches and ribozymes 8,9 suggest that RNA might have performed an even broader range of activities in the preprotein realm, and that in vitro-selected ribozymes could be analogs of the missing links in the transition from an RNA world to modern protein-dominated life 10 . Whereas high-resolution structures and biochemical investigations of several natural ribozymes provide a basic understanding of how RNA carries out phosphodiester chemistry 5,11 , little is known about how RNA catalyzes other reactions. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the catalytic abilities and limitations of ribozymes, it is thus important to expand structural and mechanistic investigations to in vitro-selected ribozymes [12][13][14] . Such structural information can be especially valuable in the determination of the minimal RNA folds required for catalysis and, therefore, could be helpful in the investigation of the origin and evolution of natural ribozymes 15 .Two examples describe the in vitro selection of ribozymes that accelerate the formation of ...

By using a structure-based fluorescence spectroscopic approach, we have examined the folding of an adenine-responsive riboswitch that regulates translation initiation. We observed adaptive recognition of the ligand for the aptamer domain of adenosine deaminase (add) mRNA from Vibrio vulnificus, and revealed pronounced conformational changes even in the preorganized loop-loop region that is distant from the binding site. Importantly, the full-length riboswitch domain, which has a potential translational repressor stem is able to form a binary complex with adenine, and does not act as a folding trap to inhibit binding. The aptamer that is extended by the expression platform therefore remains fully responsive to its ligand; this is in contrast to the previously investigated pbuE A-riboswitch, which becomes trapped in a nonresponsive terminator fold. Consequently, the latter must employ complex response mechanisms, such as operating in kinetic-control mode or using transcriptional pausing, to provide time for the aptamer portion to fold and to bind. The different behavior of the riboswitches can be rationalized by their distinct sequence interface between the aptamer and expression platform. For the add A-riboswitch, our data suggest a thermodynamically driven response mechanism.

The field of small self-cleaving nucleolytic ribozymes has been invigorated by the recent discovery of the twister, twister-sister, pistol and hatchet ribozymes. We report on the crystal structure of the env25 pistol ribozyme, which adopts a compact tertiary architecture stabilized by an embedded pseudoknot fold. The G-U cleavage site adopts a splayed-apart conformation with in-line alignment of the modeled 2′-O of G for attack on the adjacent to-be-cleaved P-O5′ bond. Highly conserved residues G40 (N1 position) and A32 (N3 and 2′-OH positions) are aligned to act as general base and general acid respectively to accelerate cleavage chemistry, with their roles confirmed from cleavage assays on mutants, and an increased pKa of 4.7 for A32. Our structure of the pistol ribozyme defines how the overall and local topologies dictate the in-line alignment at the G-U cleavage site, with cleavage assays on mutants identifying key residues participating in acid-base catalyzed cleavage chemistry.