Pseudoknots: A Vital Feature in Viral RNA

The pseudoknot or “base-paired loop region” is a widespread structural motif in all kinds of viral RNAs. Detailed structures of hairpin-type pseudoknots, obtained by NMR, are now emerging, but it is still not clear which structural features are responsible for the different functions in processes like translation and replication. Especially noncoding regions are rich sources of pseudoknot structures, where they occur in domains like IRES elements and tRNA-like structures. But also its role in coding regions like in ribosomal -1 frameshifting and read-through is well established, although the precise mechanism of interference with the translational mechanism remains unknown.