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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Ground-breaking films show RNA’s complex curves take shape

Experimental data and predictive algorithms combine to reveal the essential biomolecule’s shape-shifting.
Tangle of coloured, wiggly lines with ring-like molecules sticking out in places.

A still from a film of a common type of RNA molecule folding into its signature hairpin shape. Credit: Northwestern Univ./Univ. at Albany

Every second, a myriad of shapeless strands of RNA fold, origami-style, into intricate structures inside living cells. Now, researchers can watch the first data-driven video of this folding as RNA molecules are made by the cellular machinery.

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Nature 589, 494 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00126-8

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