Xenopus transcription factor IIIA binds primarily at junctions between double helical stems and internal loops in oocyte 5S RNA.

RNases and chemical probes were used to study the accessibility of each nucleotide of 5S RNA in the native and reconstituted 7S particle from Xenopus laevis oocytes. RNase or chemically treated 5S RNA from intact 7S particles was isolated and analysed using an oligodeoxynucleotide primer and reverse transcriptase. The results were superimposed on a cylindrical projection of an RNA double helix and the protection effects were shown to cluster at two regions on the molecular surface. A three-dimensional model is proposed for the 7S particle in which protein-RNA contacts occur mainly in the major groove of 5S RNA.