I'm interested in non-canonically capped RNA species that are recently discovered by Liu group in Harvard. Bacterial RNA is decorated with NAD, dephosphoCoA and its thioesters at the 5' end; analogous to eukaryotic m7G cap. Significant progresses have been made in the area of NAD linked RNA; however, not much is known about CoA linked RNAs. We know their existence but don't know what these species are doing in the cell and how they are being made? There is a debate in the mechanism of non-cannonical capping: some people think that it is a co-transcriptional event. Bacterial RNAP is able to initiate trascription with non-cannonical nucleotides including NAD and dephosphoCoA. Another line of thought is post-transcriptional modification in which it is believed that these groups are added post transcriptionally by some cellular enzyme (don't know which enzyme) like eukaryotic mRNA capping. Identification of NAD on 5' end of cajal bodies supports this line of thought. we have some exciting results on the mechanism of thioester RNA which will be available soon. For now, let's talk about what you think about of these Non cannonical RNA caps. Are they just the remnants of RNA world or they have some functional significance in contemporary biology? is it possible that they are actually ribozymes performing different chemistries in the cell? let's have a discussion on these novel and beautiful cap analogs.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Biochemistry
- Enzymology
- Enzymes