Abstract
RNA structures called tandem riboswitches allow bacteria to employ complex logical operations in response to nutrient starvation.
Highlights
It can perform tasks that DNA leaves to proteins, such as catalyzing chemical reactions. Many of these roles rely on RNA molecules adopting sophisticated tertiary structures which are mostly conserved across the three kingdoms of life
This ligand is a molecule called PRPP, which has a central role in purine biosynthesis; in particular, it helps to make the nucleobases adenine and guanine, which are crucial building blocks for DNA and RNA
In a separate yet-to-be-published paper they report that the 2a riboswitch binds to ppGpp: this molecule is an example of an alarmone, a class of small signal molecules that are produced by bacteria when they are under stress (ME Sherlock, N Sudarsan, RR Breaker, In preparation)
Summary
Tandem riboswitches form a natural Boolean logic gate to control purine metabolism in bacteria. In messenger RNA molecules in bacteria, certain sequences upstream of the coding region form structures called riboswitches that can bind various ligands. By stabilizing or altering these structures, the binding of the ligand turns the production of the downstream gene either on or off ( the name riboswitch).
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