© 2008 Oxford University Press
This article appears in the following Nucleic Acid Symposium Series issue: Joint Symposium of the 18th International Roundtable on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids and the 35th International Symposium on Nucleic Acids Chemistry [View the issue table of contents]
Manipulation of the peptide-binding specificity of an RNA in a rational manner by combinations of specificity-altering mutations
1Department of Life Science, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184-8501, Japan and Faculty of Science and Technology, Seikei University, Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-8633, Japan.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: harada{at}u-gakugei.ac.jp
Abstract
In this study, the potential to manipulate the peptide-binding specificity of an RNA in a rational manner was investigated. First, variants of the Rev-response element (RRE) RNA with different specificities towards the natural binding partner, Rev, and two RRE-binding aptamers, the RSG-1.2 and K1 peptides, were identified. Next, hybrid RRE mutants with combinations of two sets of specificity-altering substitutions were tested for peptide-binding specificity. It was shown that, in most cases, the results of the combination of individual mutations were of an additive nature, therefore providing a way to manipulate the peptide-binding specificity of an RNA in a predictable manner.