Conformational Rearrangements of Individual Nucleotides during RNA-Ligand Binding Are Rate-Differentiated.

A pronounced rate differentiation has been found for conformational rearrangements of individual nucleobases that occur during ligand recognition of the preQ1 class-I riboswitch aptamer from Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis. Rate measurements rely on the 2ApFold approach by analyzing the fluorescence response of riboswitch variants, each with a single, strategically positioned 2-aminopurine nucleobase substitution. Observed rate discrimination between the fastest and the slowest conformational adaption is 22-fold, with the largest rate observed for the rearrangement of a nucleoside directly at the binding site and the smallest rate observed for the 3'-unpaired nucleoside that stacks onto the pseudo-knot-closing Watson-Crick base pair. Our findings provide novel insights into how compact, prefolded RNAs that follow the induced-fit recognition mechanism adapt local structural elements in response to ligand binding on a rather broad time scale and how this process culminates in a structural signal that is responsible for efficient downregulation of ribosomal translation.