Effect of mutations on internal dynamics of an RNA hairpin from hepatitis B virus

Conformational dynamics plays a key role in mediating specific interactions between RNAs and proteins. Flexible parts, such as the loop regions, are often involved in protein binding. Characterization of the factors that influence the flexibility of loop regions will improve our understanding of RNA-protein binding. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to study the dynamical features of the apical stem-loop of hepatitis B virus and a mutant, with two consensus-based secondary structure mutations (A-U→C-G) in the stem region. The mutations reduce the dynamics of the system and influence the hairpin conformations. The simulations show that inducing rigidity in the stem affects the loop conformational flexibility: the loop residues become less mobile and less accessible to the solvent, and thus less accessible to a possible targeting protein.