SEQUENTIAL FOLDING OF A MESSENGER-RNA MOLECULE

[摘要] The existence of a new, efficient algorithm for secondary structure prediction enables the study of the folding pattern of a mRNA chain. Successively longer RNA sequences with the same 5''-ends fold sequentially, usually keeping the stable close-range hairpin loops and rearranging the long-range stems. This path will shorten the time the mRNA molecule needs to attain its preferred structure. It can also align splicing sites in a favorable orientation before the whole molecule is synthesized. These studies were carried out on the SV-40 late precursor and processed mRNA.