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Compact but disordered states of RNA

Large ribozymes collapse to compact structures that are non-native and partially disordered when folding is induced by magnesium ions. This suggests that the early steps in the folding of these RNAs are non-specific.

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Figure 1: Hypothetical energy folding landscape of RNA.
Figure 2: Folding pathway of the Tetrahymena ribozyme.
Figure 3: Folding of yeast mitochondrial bI5 ribozyme.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks D. Thirumalai and D. Draper for helpful discussions.

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Woodson, S. Compact but disordered states of RNA. Nat Struct Mol Biol 7, 349–352 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/75106

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