Key result
Cryo-EM structure of Trypanosoma brucei RESC1-RESC2 reveals an obligatory domain-swapped dimer where RESC2 selectively binds 5'-triphosphate-nucleosides, acting as a protective 5'-end binding site.
Why the study?
Neither the spacio-temporal interplay of RESC factors nor the selection mechanism for the different RNA components is understood due to a lack of molecular structures and biochemical studies.
The cryo-EM structure of the RESC1-RESC2 complex reveals a domain-swapped dimer where RESC2 selectively binds 5'-triphosphate-nucleosides, providing insights into guide RNA selection in kinetoplastid parasites.
Kinetoplastid parasites, such as trypanosomes or leishmania, rely on RNA-templated RNA editing to mature mitochondrial cryptic pre-mRNAs into functional protein-coding transcripts. Processive pan-editing of multiple editing blocks within a single transcript is dependent on the 20-subunit RNA editing substrate binding complex (RESC) that serves as a platform to orchestrate the interactions between pre-mRNA, guide RNAs (gRNAs), the catalytic RNA editing complex (RECC), and a set of RNA helicases. Due to the lack of molecular structures and biochemical studies with purified components, neither the spacio-temporal interplay of these factors nor the selection mechanism for the different RNA components is understood. Here we report the cryo-EM structure of Trypanosoma brucei RESC1-RESC2, a central hub module of the RESC complex. The structure reveals that RESC1 and RESC2 form an obligatory domain-swapped dimer. Although the tertiary structures of both subunits closely resemble each other, only RESC2 selectively binds 5'-triphosphate-nucleosides, a defining characteristic of gRNAs. We therefore propose RESC2 as the protective 5'-end binding site for gRNAs within the RESC complex. Overall, our structure provides a starting point for the study of the assembly and function of larger RNA-bound kinetoplast RNA editing modules and might aid in the design of anti-parasite drugs.
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Dolce et al. (2023) studied this question. Cryo-EM structure of Trypanosoma brucei RESC1-RESC2 reveals an obligatory domain-swapped dimer where RESC2 selectively binds 5'-triphosphate-nucleosides, acting as a protective 5'-end binding site.
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