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Sequence-structure relationships in RNA loops: establishing the basis for loop homology modeling.

ABSTRACT: The specific function of RNA molecules frequently resides in their seemingly unstructured loop regions. We performed a systematic analysis of RNA loops extracted from experimentally determined three-dimensional structures of RNA molecules. A comprehensive loop-structure data set was created and organized into distinct clusters based on structural and sequence similarity. We detected clear evidence of the hallmark of homology present in the sequence-structure relationships in loops. Loops differing by <25% in sequence identity fold into very similar structures. Thus, our results support the application of homology modeling for RNA loop model building. We established a threshold that may guide the sequence divergence-based selection of template structures for RNA loop homology modeling. Of all possible sequences that are, under the assumption of isosteric relationships, theoretically compatible with actual sequences observed in RNA structures, only a small fraction is contained in the Rfam database of RNA sequences and classes implying that the actual RNA loop space may consist of a limited number of unique loop structures and conserved sequences. The loop-structure data sets are made available via an online database, RLooM. RLooM also offers functionalities for the modeling of RNA loop structures in support of RNA engineering and design efforts.

SUBMITTER: Schudoma C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817452 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sequence-structure relationships in RNA loops: establishing the basis for loop homology modeling.

Schudoma Christian C May Patrick P Nikiforova Viktoria V Walther Dirk D

Nucleic acids research 20091118 3

The specific function of RNA molecules frequently resides in their seemingly unstructured loop regions. We performed a systematic analysis of RNA loops extracted from experimentally determined three-dimensional structures of RNA molecules. A comprehensive loop-structure data set was created and organized into distinct clusters based on structural and sequence similarity. We detected clear evidence of the hallmark of homology present in the sequence-structure relationships in loops. Loops differi ...[more]

PMID: 19923230

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The search for distant homologs has become an import issue in genome annotation. A particular difficulty is posed by divergent homologs that have lost recognizable sequence similarity. This same problem also arises in the recognition of novel members of large classes of RNAs such as snoRNAs or microRNAs that consist of families unrelated by common descent. Current homology search tools for structured RNAs are either based entirely on sequence similarity (such as blast or hmmer) or combine sequence and secondary structure. The most prominent example of the latter class of tools is Infernal. Alternatives are descriptor-based methods. In most practical applications published to-date, however, the information contained in covariance models or manually prescribed search patterns is dominated by sequence information. Here we ask two related questions: (1) Is secondary structure alone informative for homology search and the detection of novel members of RNA classes? (2) To what extent is the thermodynamic propensity of the target sequence to fold into the correct secondary structure helpful for this task? RESULTS:Sequence-structure alignment can be used as an alternative search strategy. In this scenario, the query consists of a base pairing probability matrix, which can be derived either from a single sequence or from a multiple alignment representing a set of known representatives. Sequence information can be optionally added to the query. The target sequence is pre-processed to obtain local base pairing probabilities. As a search engine we devised a semi-global scanning variant of LocARNA's algorithm for sequence-structure alignment. The LocARNAscan tool is optimized for speed and low memory consumption. In benchmarking experiments on artificial data we observe that the inclusion of thermodynamic stability is helpful, albeit only in a regime of extremely low sequence information in the query. We observe, furthermore, that the sensitivity is bounded in particular by the limited accuracy of the predicted local structures of the target sequence. CONCLUSIONS:Although we demonstrate that a purely structure-based homology search is feasible in principle, it is unlikely to outperform tools such as Infernal in most application scenarios, where a substantial amount of sequence information is typically available. The LocARNAscan approach will profit, however, from high throughput methods to determine RNA secondary structure. In transcriptome-wide applications, such methods will provide accurate structure annotations on the target side. AVAILABILITY:Source code of the free software LocARNAscan 1.0 and supplementary data are available at http://www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/Software/LocARNAscan.

Project description:Bovine Rhinitis B Virus (BRBV) is a picornavirus responsible for mild respiratory infection of cattle. It is probably the least characterized among the aphthoviruses. BRBV is the closest relative known to Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMDV) with a ~43% identical polyprotein sequence and as much as 67% identical sequence for the RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), which is also known as 3D polymerase (3D(pol)). In the present study we carried out phylogenetic analysis, structure based sequence alignment and prediction of three-dimensional structure of BRBV 3D(pol) using a combination of different computational tools. Model structures of BRBV 3D(pol) were verified for their stereochemical quality and accuracy. The BRBV 3D(pol) structure predicted by SWISS-MODEL exhibited highest scores in terms of stereochemical quality and accuracy, which were in the range of 2Å resolution crystal structures. The active site, nucleic acid binding site and overall structure were observed to be in agreement with the crystal structure of unliganded as well as template/primer (T/P), nucleotide tri-phosphate (NTP) and pyrophosphate (PPi) bound FMDV 3D(pol) (PDB, 1U09 and 2E9Z). The closest proximity of BRBV and FMDV 3D(pol) as compared to human rhinovirus type 16 (HRV-16) and rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) 3D(pols) is also substantiated by phylogeny analysis and root-mean square deviation (RMSD) between C-α traces of the polymerase structures. The absence of positively charged α-helix at C terminal, significant differences in non-covalent interactions especially salt bridges and CH-pi interactions around T/P channel of BRBV 3D(pol) compared to FMDV 3D(pol), indicate that despite a very high homology to FMDV 3D(pol), BRBV 3D(pol) may adopt a different mechanism for handling its substrates and adapting to physiological requirements. Our findings will be valuable in the design of structure-function interventions and identification of molecular targets for drug design applicable to Aphthovirus RdRps.

Dataset Information

Sequence-structure relationships in RNA loops: establishing the basis for loop homology modeling.

Publications

Sequence-structure relationships in RNA loops: establishing the basis for loop homology modeling.

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