ABSTRACT
Blanton S. Tolbert, Carrie Rollins, Jeffrey D. Levengood, Le Luo, and Prashant Rajan Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-7708, USA bst18@case.edu
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules fold into elaborate structures
that underlie their molecular functions. Knowledge of the structural
and dynamical properties of RNA thus informs on mechanistic
principles. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the
only analytical tool that can report both on the high-resolution
structure and the conformational dynamics of RNA under solution
conditions. Recent advances in preparation of isotopically labeled
ribonucleosidetriphosphates (rNTPs) [1, 2], improvements in RNA
segmental ligation [3, 4], and the continued development of NMR
methods [5, 6] have allowed for larger and more complex RNA
molecules to be studied by NMR. Unlike proteins, the secondary
Figure 8.1 Schematic representation of Watson-Crick G:C, A:U, and G:U base pairs. Imino protons are colored red, and their approximate 1H NMR
chemical shift ranges are shown above.
