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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay EMSA for the Study of RNA-Protein Interactions: The IRE/IRP Example
Published on: December 3, 2014
Conservation in the Iron Responsive Element Family
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
Abstract:
Iron responsive elements (IREs) are mRNA stem-loop targets for translational control by the two iron regulatory proteins IRP1 and IRP2. They are found in the untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes that code for proteins involved in iron metabolism. There are ten "classic" IRE types that define the conserved secondary and tertiary structure elements necessary for proper IRP binding, and there are 83 published "IRE-like" sequences, most of which depart from the established IRE model. Here are structurally-guided discussions regarding the essential features of an IRE and what is important for IRE family membership.
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