Bioinformatics Seminar
Time:
Venue: Na
28 November 2017
NaDetecting RNA Structure Heterogeneity in Cells
Vincent CorbinWEHI Bioinformatics
RNA is unique among all biomolecules as it can be both information storing and enzymatic. Indeed ; in addition to the genetic code ; RNA possesses a second layer of information integrated in its secondary structure that can regulate processes as varied as splicing ; localization ; translation efficiency and protein binding. However ; our current ability to explore the complexity of RNA structure is limited. Prediction algorithms do not account for intra-cellular interactions such as the role played by proteins in RNA folding or dynamic unwinding of structured regions by ribosomes. Other existing assays based on RNA chemical probing (DMS ; SHAPE) can explore RNA structure inside the cell but fail to untangle the multiple conformations RNA may assume inside a single cell ; leading to a potentially false interpretation of its structure. We developped a method that is capable of detecting alternative RNA structures which form from the same underlying sequence ; both in vitro and ex vivo. We applied our approach to HIV-1 and revealed genomic RNA structure heterogeneity with novel functional implications.