Structural basis for ligand specificity and affinity in naturally occuring and artificial purine-binding RNA molecules

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RNA molecules are able to bind to small molecule ligands with high affinity and specificity. The first examples for this were provide by artificially selected RNA-aptamers. Recently, it has been shown that direct RNA-small molecule interactions are also important in nature and regulate the expression of a significant number of bacterial genes through the action of riboswitches. The aim of this project is the structural comparison of novel riboswitches that bind to the purine nucleoside desoxyguanosine and/or the purine base guanine and of artificial RNA-aptamers that bind to similar ligands. We would like to characterize the possible diversity in RNA-ligand recognition modes and the relation between the structural complexity of RNA and ligand affinity and specificity. The results will have interesting implications for the design of drugs targeting RNA.