X-ray crystallographic structure analysis of the RNA thermometer ROSE and the preQ1-specific riboswitch

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Regulatory RNAs are common to all three kingdoms of life. Riboswitches are mostly located in the non-coding regions of messenger RNAs. They bind metabolites with very high affinity leading to the formation of a stable RNA fold and the control of the expression of proteins related to the corresponding RNA-binding metabolite. A special family of riboswitches are RNA thermometers which regulate gene expression in a temperature-dependent fashion. Our work will focus on the crystal structure determination of the RNA thermometer ROSE, which controls the expression of small heat shock proteins in many bacteria. We also will determine the crystal structure of the preQ1-specific riboswitch, which controls the expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the hypermodified tRNA-nucleoside queuosine. This smallest known riboswitch is of particular interest, as it might represent the minimal structural motif for the specific binding of a nucleobase by RNA.