Computational study on Trypanosoma brucei RNA editing terminal uridylyl transferase (TbRET2)

Abstract

Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of African sleeping sickness, which is a major health problem in Africa. A large multiprotein complex, called the editosome, catalyzes a unique post‐transcriptional RNA editing in T. brucei and by this way, uridine nucleotides are inserted or deleted in mitochondrial pre‐mRNAs. RNA editing terminal uridylyl transferase 2 of T. brucei (TbRET2) is one of the key components of the editosome and is responsible for the uridine nucleotide addition. TbRET2 is shown to be vital for the bloodstream form of the parasite and no close human homologs are identified, which make TbRET2 a potential drug target. We will present insights about the structure and dynamics of TbRET2 based on our all‐atom molecular dynamics simulations of apo and UTP‐bound forms of the enzyme.