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Functional Nucleic Acid-Protein Complexes: Application to Fluorescent Ribonucleopeptide Sensors

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Handbook of Chemical Biology of Nucleic Acids

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Abstract

Nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are functional biopolymers that play a vital role as information carriers for life phenomena in animals, plants, and even some viruses. Important aspects of cellular processes, such as gene expression, replication, and recombination, are controlled by signal transduction involving proteins and peptides that interact with nucleic acids (called nucleic acid-binding proteins/peptides). Due to their importance in biological processes, the three-dimensional (3D) structures of numerous nucleic acid-protein complexes have been elucidated. Their physiological roles and the molecular recognition mechanisms of complex formation were investigated in detail. Also, nucleic acid-binding proteins with novel functions were designed and synthesized. This chapter introduces the molecular recognition modes between the nucleic acids and their binding proteins. Further, the artificial design of the proteins that bind to nucleic acids, their complexes based on the 3D structures, and recognition modes are discussed. Also, the preparation of the functional molecules using RNA-peptide complexes called ribonucleopeptides (RNPs) and their capabilities as receptors and catalysts are described. Finally, particular emphasis is given to the development and applications of the RNPs as fluorescent sensors for various biomolecular analytes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Arivazhagan Rajendran, Shiwei Zhang & Takashi Morii

Authors
  1. Arivazhagan Rajendran
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  2. Shiwei Zhang
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  3. Takashi Morii
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takashi Morii .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Institute for Biomolecular Engineering Research (FIBER), Konan University, Kobe, Japan

    Naoki Sugimoto

Section Editor information

  1. Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Chaoyong Yang

  2. Institute of Molecular Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Chaoyong Yang

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Rajendran, A., Zhang, S., Morii, T. (2022). Functional Nucleic Acid-Protein Complexes: Application to Fluorescent Ribonucleopeptide Sensors. In: Sugimoto, N. (eds) Handbook of Chemical Biology of Nucleic Acids. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1313-5_56-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1313-5_56-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-1313-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-1313-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Chemistry and Mat. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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