Structural basis of mRNA cap recognition by proteins
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Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Artificial RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complexes for Dissecting Co-transcriptional RNA Processing Events
Published on: May 13, 2019
F A Quiocho1, G Hu, P D Gershon
1Department of Biochemistry and the Structural and Computational Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. faq@bcm.tmc.edu
Abstract:
Crystal structures have recently become available for two proteins (VP39 and eIF4E) complexed with their cognate ligand - the mRNA cap. Despite their total structural dissimilarity, both proteins bind N7-methylguanine between two parallel aromatic sidechains. The resulting stacked arrangement governs their high specificity for the alkylated form of the nucleobase.
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