Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Itoh Y
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2764427 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nucleic acids research 20090819 18
Selenocysteine (Sec) is the 21st amino acid in translation. Sec tRNA (tRNA(Sec)) has an anticodon complementary to the UGA codon. We solved the crystal structure of human tRNA(Sec). tRNA(Sec) has a 9-bp acceptor stem and a 4-bp T stem, in contrast with the 7-bp acceptor stem and the 5-bp T stem in the canonical tRNAs. The acceptor stem is kinked between the U6:U67 and G7:C66 base pairs, leading to a bent acceptor-T stem helix. tRNA(Sec) has a 6-bp D stem and a 4-nt D loop. The long D stem includ ...[more]