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Over a Decade of Bacterial Ribonuclease P Modeling

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Ribonuclease P

Part of the book series: Protein Reviews ((PRON,volume 10))

Abstract

Ribonuclease P constitutes a unique paradigm for understanding RNA recognition, RNA catalysis as well as RNA–protein assembly. The modeling efforts, aiming at unraveling the architectural features of this ribozyme and the molecular basis conferring specificity in recognition of the pre-tRNA substrate and of the protein cofactor, are summarized in this chapter. The molecular models of the RNA subunits result from the integration of a great wealth of phylogenetic and biochemical data that have contributed to the understanding of the pre-tRNA recognition in the context of the two different A and B RNase P subtypes. Later efforts focused on the contribution of the protein subunit on both the binding to the RNA to form the holoenzyme and the selection of the substrate. The crystal structures of various components of the RNase P ribozyme show that the published 3D models successfully predicted the architectures of the RNase P RNAs. These crystal structures also show the need for further molecular modeling developments in order to improve the accuracy of the prediction and to apply them to the whole RNase P with its cofactor and substrate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Architecture et Réactivité de l’ARN, Université de Strasbourg, IBMC, CNRS, 15 rue René Descartes, Strasbourg, 67084, France

    Benoît Masquida, Fabrice Jossinet & Eric Westhof

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  1. Benoît Masquida
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  2. Fabrice Jossinet
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  3. Eric Westhof
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Correspondence to Benoît Masquida .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Warren Hall 140, Berkeley, 94720, U.S.A.

    Fenyong Liu

  2. Dept. Molecular, Cellular &, Yale University, Whitney Avenue 266, New Haven, 06520-8104, U.S.A.

    Sidney Altman

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Masquida, B., Jossinet, F., Westhof, E. (2010). Over a Decade of Bacterial Ribonuclease P Modeling. In: Liu, F., Altman, S. (eds) Ribonuclease P. Protein Reviews, vol 10. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1142-1_3

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