Abstract

Accelerating discoveries of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) in myriad biological processes pose major challenges to structural and functional analysis. Despite progress in secondary structure modeling, high-throughput methods have generally failed to determine ncRNA tertiary structures, even at the 1-nm resolution that enables visualization of how helices and functional motifs are positioned in three dimensions. We report that integrating a new method called MOHCA-seq (Multiplexed •OH Cleavage Analysis with paired-end sequencing) with mutate-and-map secondary structure inference guides Rosetta 3D modeling to consistent 1-nm accuracy for intricately folded ncRNAs with lengths up to 188 nucleotides, including a blind RNA-puzzle challenge, the lariat-capping ribozyme. This multidimensional chemical mapping (MCM) pipeline resolves unexpected tertiary proximities for cyclic-di-GMP, glycine, and adenosylcobalamin riboswitch aptamers without their ligands and a loose structure for the recently discovered human HoxA9D IRES regulon. MCM offers a sequencing-based route to uncovering ncRNA 3D structure, applicable to functionally important but potentially heterogeneous states.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Clarence Yu Cheng

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Fang-Chieh Chou

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Wipapat Kladwang

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Siqi Tian

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Pablo Cordero

    Biomedical Informatics Program, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Rhiju Das

    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
    For correspondence
    rhiju@stanford.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Timothy W Nilsen, Case Western Reserve University, United States

Version history

  1. Received: March 19, 2015
  2. Accepted: June 2, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 2, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: July 8, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Yu Cheng et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Clarence Yu Cheng
  2. Fang-Chieh Chou
  3. Wipapat Kladwang
  4. Siqi Tian
  5. Pablo Cordero
  6. Rhiju Das
(2015)
Consistent global structures of complex RNA states through multidimensional chemical mapping
eLife 4:e07600.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07600

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07600

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