New developments in structure determination of pseudoknots

Abstract

Recently, several high-resolution structures of RNA pseudoknots have become available. Here we review the progress in this area. The majority of the structures obtained belong to the classical or H-type pseudoknot family. The most complicated pseudoknot structure elucidated so far is the Hepatitis Delta Virus ribozyme, which forms a nested double pseudoknot. In particular, the structure–function relationships of the H-type pseudoknots involved in translational frameshifting have received much attention. All molecules considered show interesting new structural motifs. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 48: 137–153, 1998