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Non-coding RNA in the cell enters some important organelles, regulates protein synthesis, accelerates individual reactions and participates in other biologically important processes. Often, the functioning of non-coding RNAs is ensured by stable interactions of the nucleotides of one or more RNA molecules. A bioinformatician from MIPT and the Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences described the known structures of non-coding RNAs associated with

DNA stores information about the proteins necessary for the functioning of the cell. When reading this information, intermediate molecules are formed — matrix RNAs, according to which the protein is subsequently built. However, not all DNA stores sequences of proteins, for example, almost 98 percent of the human genome does not encode proteins.

Non-coding RNA molecules are synthesized from the part of non-coding DNA. If we draw an analogy of the composition of RNA with matter in the universe, we can say that it is dark RNA. At the moment, it is known that these molecules, as a rule, are involved in the regulation of protein synthesis, make up a large part of the ribosome and perform its functions.

Also, non-coding RNAs accelerate some biochemical processes in the cell, including they can suppress protein production. This effect is based on the work of one of the drugs for a rare genetic disease-spinal muscular atrophy. DNA and some parts of RNA are double-stranded molecules or parts of molecules twisted into a spiral.

The filaments forming the molecule are located asymmetrically relative to the axis of the spiral, so small and large grooves are formed — a smaller and larger angle between the filaments than 180 degrees. Adenines from the same or another RNA molecule are embedded in the small grooves of some non-coding RNAs. RNA structures with bound adenine are called A-minors, and several consecutive A-minors are called the A-minor motif.

The author of the work systematized the existing structures of A-minor and A-minor motifs, described their geometry and functions. The scientist identified two main groups of A-minors, differing in the distance along the RNA sequence between the three nucleotides involved in the interaction.

In the structures from the first group, they are located close, from the second-they are removed from each other. All previously discovered A-minor structures can be divided into these two groups and by the types of interaction in the groups. Thanks to this classification, it is possible to quickly determine the type of A minor or A minor motif and use their already known properties.

"A-minor interactions are one of the most common types of interactions of parts of an RNA molecule or several RNAs. I described the known A-minor interactions, listed examples of functional A-minor motifs, and considered the most common types of their structures. An important feature of A-minors that should be mentioned is the dynamics of the components, which differs significantly between A-minors of different structures.

Currently, programs and descriptions that define A-minors do not use all existing data. Unfortunately, this approach overlooks many non-canonical A-minors. There is no doubt that with an exponentially growing number of resolved three-dimensional structures of various RNA molecules, the list of functionally important A-minor interactions will also grow rapidly.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop advanced programs for describing various types of A-minors and for determining the interactions of A-minors with other RNA motifs," explains Evgeny Baulin, senior lecturer at the Department of Algorithms and Programming Technologies at MIPT, researcher at the Laboratory of Applied Mathematics of the IMB RAS — a branch of the M. V. Keldysh IPM RAS.

The article was published in the journal Biochemistry (Moscow)
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Source: naked-science.ru, sci-dig.ru