Metals in the genetic forge: detailed views of RNA splicing

Scientists at Yale University have described in the greatest detail yet aspects of the chemical processes by which RNA carries out the expression of our genes. In a paper published Oct. 26 in the journal Cell, researchers report 14 crystal structures for a group II intron - an enzyme involved in RNA splicing, a critical phase of genetic reproduction. These new views capture the enzyme's working parts and multiple steps in its operation, revealing the chemical mechanisms at work. "We didn't just get a snapshot - we caught the intron in action," said principal investigator Anna Pyle, the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and professor of chemistry at Yale. A major function of RNA is copying all genetic information and making it readable by the cellular protein factories, the ribosomes. But RNA needs to be edited, and an early step in the editing process is splicing.