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Molecular prejudice: RNA discrimination against purines allows response to a cellular alarm

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 22, pages 754–756 (2015)Cite this article

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The cellular 'alarmone' molecule ZTP accumulates when a critical cellular metabolic pathway is starved for substrate. The high-resolution structure of ZTP bound to its RNA-based sensor reveals unexpected strategies used by RNA to specifically recognize small-molecule ligands within the complex cellular mixture.

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Figure 1: Ligand-induced structural switching of the ZTP riboswitch.
Figure 2: Details of purine recognition by a riboswitch.
Figure 3: Formation of the binding pocket by the ZTP riboswitch.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marisa D. Ruehle and Jeffrey S. Kieft are at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.,

    Marisa D Ruehle & Jeffrey S Kieft

  2. Jeffrey S. Kieft is also at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.,

    Jeffrey S Kieft

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  1. Marisa D Ruehle
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  2. Jeffrey S Kieft
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Correspondence to Jeffrey S Kieft.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Ruehle, M., Kieft, J. Molecular prejudice: RNA discrimination against purines allows response to a cellular alarm. Nat Struct Mol Biol 22, 754–756 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3095

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