RNA–DNA Molecules

Yahua Chen, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
Ramanchandra Reddy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

Published online: May 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001493

RNA–DNA chimaeric molecules are important intermediates in many essential biological processes, including DNA replication and reverse transcription by retroviruses.

Keywords: DNA replication; primer RNAs; B-form DNA; A-form RNA; reverse transcription

Figure 1. The synthesis of Okazaki fragments in DNA replication. In eukaryotic cells, RNA primers are made at intervals spaced by about 200 nucleotides on the lagging strand by DNA primase, and each RNA primer is about 10 nucleotides long. This RNA primer is degraded by RNAase H and/or 5¢-3¢ exonuclease activities; this leaves a gap that is filled by DNA polymerase and DNA ligase.
Figure 2. A schematic representation of reverse transcription of a retroviral genomic RNA into full-length double-stranded DNA. The blue-coloured line refers to the genomic RNA, and the red-coloured lines refer to the DNA strand synthesized by reverse transcriptase. R, U3 and U5 are repetitive sequences in the long terminal repeats located at both 5¢ and 3¢ ends of the genomic RNA. PBS is the binding site for tRNA primer, and PPT is the binding site for polypurine tract primer.
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 References
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 Further Reading
    Goff SP (1990) Retroviral reverse transcriptase: synthesis, structure, and function. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 3: 817–831.
    book Litvak S (1996) Retroviral Reverse Transcriptases. New York: Chapman & Hall.
    book Salas M, Miller JT, Leis J and DePamphilis ML (1996) "Mechanisms for priming DNA synthesis". In: DePamphilis ML (eds) DNA Replication in Eukaryotic Cells. Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
    book Sinden RR (1994) DNA Structure and Function. San Diego: Academic Press.
    book Zubay G (1988) Biochemistry, 2nd edn. London: Macmillan Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Transcription | Transcription of DNA | RNA Structure and Function | DNA Structure and Function | Biomolecular Interactions | Nucleic Acids: Structure, Function, Metabolism
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Article Title: RNA–DNA Molecules
 
How to Cite close
Chen, Yahua, and Reddy, Ramanchandra(May 2001) RNA–DNA Molecules. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001493]