5-Formylcytosine is an activating epigenetic mark for RNA Pol III during zygotic reprogramming.

5-Methylcytosine (5mC) is an established epigenetic mark in vertebrate genomic DNA, but whether its oxidation intermediates formed during TET-mediated DNA demethylation possess an instructive role of their own that is also physiologically relevant remains unresolved. Here, we reveal a 5-formylcytosine (5fC) nuclear chromocenter, which transiently forms during zygotic genome activation (ZGA) in Xenopus and mouse embryos. We identify this chromocenter as the perinucleolar compartment, a structure associated with RNA Pol III transcription. In Xenopus embryos, 5fC is highly enriched on Pol III target genes activated at ZGA, notably at oocyte-type tandem arrayed tRNA genes. By manipulating Tet and Tdg enzymes, we show that 5fC is required as a regulatory mark to promote Pol III recruitment as well as tRNA expression. Concordantly, 5fC modification of a tRNA transgene enhances its expression in vivo. The results establish 5fC as an activating epigenetic mark during zygotic reprogramming of Pol III gene expression.

Combining Complementarity and Binding Energetics in the Assessment of Protein Interactions: EnCPdock-A Practical Manual.

The combined effect of shape and electrostatic complementarities (Sc, EC) at the interface of the interacting protein partners (PPI) serves as the physical basis for such associations and is a strong determinant of their binding energetics. EnCPdock (https://www.scinetmol.in/EnCPdock/) presents a comprehensive web platform for the direct conjoint comparative analyses of complementarity and binding energetics in PPIs. It elegantly interlinks the dual nature of local (Sc) and nonlocal complementarity (EC) in PPIs using the complementarity plot. It further derives an AI-based ΔGbinding with a prediction accuracy comparable to the state of the art. This book chapter presents a practical manual to conceptualize and implement EnCPdock with its various features and functionalities, collectively having the potential to serve as a valuable protein engineering tool in the design of novel protein interfaces.

EnCPdock: a web-interface for direct conjoint comparative analyses of complementarity and binding energetics in inter-protein associations.

CONTEXT: Protein-protein interaction (PPI) is a key component linked to virtually all cellular processes. Be it an enzyme catalysis ('classic type functions' of proteins) or a signal transduction ('non-classic'), proteins generally function involving stable or quasi-stable multi-protein associations. The physical basis for such associations is inherent in the combined effect of shape and electrostatic complementarities (Sc, EC) of the interacting protein partners at their interface, which provides indirect probabilistic estimates of the stability and affinity of the interaction. While Sc is a necessary criterion for inter-protein associations, EC can be favorable as well as disfavored (e.g., in transient interactions). Estimating equilibrium thermodynamic parameters (∆Gbinding, Kd) by experimental means is costly and time consuming, thereby opening windows for computational structural interventions. Attempts to empirically probe ∆Gbinding from coarse-grain structural descriptors (primarily, surface area based terms) have lately been overtaken by physics-based, knowledge-based and their hybrid approaches (MM/PBSA, FoldX, etc.) that directly compute ∆Gbinding without involving intermediate structural descriptors. METHODS: Here, we present EnCPdock ( https://www.scinetmol.in/EnCPdock/ ), a user-friendly web-interface for the direct conjoint comparative analyses of complementarity and binding energetics in proteins. EnCPdock returns an AI-predicted ∆Gbinding computed by combining complementarity (Sc, EC) and other high-level structural descriptors (input feature vectors), and renders a prediction accuracy comparable to the state-of-the-art. EnCPdock further locates a PPI complex in terms of its {Sc, EC} values (taken as an ordered pair) in the two-dimensional complementarity plot (CP). In addition, it also generates mobile molecular graphics of the interfacial atomic contact network for further analyses. EnCPdock also furnishes individual feature trends along with the relative probability estimates (Prfmax) of the obtained feature-scores with respect to the events of their highest observed frequencies. Together, these functionalities are of real practical use for structural tinkering and intervention as might be relevant in the design of targeted protein-interfaces. Combining all its features and applications, EnCPdock presents a unique online tool that should be beneficial to structural biologists and researchers across related fraternities.

RNABPDB: Molecular Modeling of RNA Structure-From Base Pair Analysis in Crystals to Structure Prediction.

The stable three-dimensional structure of RNA is known to play several important biochemical roles, from post-transcriptional gene regulation to enzymatic action. These structures contain double-helical regions, which often have different types of non-canonical base pairs in addition to Watson-Crick base pairs. Hence, it is important to study their structures from experimentally obtained or even predicted ones, to understand their role, or to develop a drug against the potential targets. Molecular Modeling of RNA double helices containing non-canonical base pairs is a difficult process, particularly due to the unavailability of structural features of non-Watson-Crick base pairs. Here we show a composite web-server with an associated database that allows one to generate the structure of RNA double helix containing non-canonical base pairs using consensus parameters obtained from the database. The database classification is followed by an evaluation of the central tendency of the structural parameters as well as a quantitative estimation of interaction strengths. These parameters are used to construct three-dimensional structures of double helices composed of Watson-Crick and/or non-canonical base pairs. Our benchmark study to regenerate double-helical fragments of many experimentally derived RNA structures indicate very high accuracy. This composite server is expected to be highly useful in understanding functions of various pre-miRNA by modeling structures of the molecules and estimating binding efficiency. The database can be accessed from http://hdrnas.saha.ac.in/rnabpdb .

Stacking geometry between two sheared Watson-Crick basepairs: Computational chemistry and bioinformatics based prediction.

BACKGROUND: Molecular modeling of RNA double helices is possible using most probable values of basepair parameters obtained from crystal structure database. The A:A w:wC non-canonical basepair, involving Watson-Crick edges of two Adenines in cis orientation, appears quite frequently in database. Bimodal distribution of its Shear, due to two different H-bonding schemes, introduces the confusion in assigning most the probable value. Its effect is pronounced when the A:A w:wC basepair stacks on Sheared wobble G:U W:WC basepairs. METHODS: We employed molecular dynamics simulations of three possible double helices with GAG, UAG and GAU sequence motifs at their centers and quantum chemical calculation for non-canonical A:A w:wC basepair stacked on G:U W:WC basepair. RESULTS: We noticed stable structures of GAG motif with specifically negative Shear of the A:A basepair but stabilities of the other motifs were not found with A:A w:wC basepairing. Hybrid DFT-D and MP2 stacking energy analyses on dinucleotide step sequences, A:A w:wC::G:U W:WC and A:A w:wC::U:G W:WC reveal that viable orientation of A:A::G:U prefers one of the H-bonding modes with negative Shear, supported by crystal structure database. The A:A::U:G dinucleotide, however, prefers structure with only positive Shear. CONCLUSIONS: The quantum chemical calculations explain why MD simulations of GAG sequence motif only appear stable. In the cases of the GAU and UAG motifs "tug of war" situation between positive and negative Shears of A:A w:wC basepair induces conformational plasticity. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: We have projected comprehensive reason behind the promiscuous nature of A:A w:wC basepair which brings occasional structural plasticity.

Intrinsic structural variability in GNRA-like tetraloops: insight from molecular dynamics simulation.

The structure of a hairpin loop-in particular its large accessible surface area and its exposed hydrogen-bonding edges-facilitate an inherent possibility for interactions. Just like higher-order RNA macromolecules, pre-microRNAs possess a hairpin loop, and it plays a crucial role in miRNA biogenesis. Upon inspecting the crystal structures of RNAs with various functions, we noticed that, along with a fairly long double helix, the RNAs contained sequentially different hairpin loops comprising four residues. We therefore applied molecular dynamics simulation to analyze six of these previously unexplored tetraloops, along with GNRA (where N is any nucleotide and R is a purine nucleotide) tetraloops, to understand their structural and functional characteristics. A number of analyses quantifying loop stability by examining base-base stacking, base-sugar and base-phosphate hydrogen bonding, and backbone variability were performed. Importantly, we determined the different interbase stacking preferences of the single-stranded unpaired bases of the hairpin loops, which had not previously been quantified in any form. Furthermore, our study indicates that canonical GNRA structural properties are exhibited by some structures containing non-GNRA loop sequences. Graphical abstract Stacking overlap at loop region.

A-to-I editing in human miRNAs is enriched in seed sequence, influenced by sequence contexts and significantly hypoedited in glioblastoma multiforme.

Editing in microRNAs, particularly in seed can significantly alter the choice of their target genes. We show that out of 13 different human tissues, different regions of brain showed higher adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) editing in mature miRNAs. These events were enriched in seed sequence (73.33%), which was not observed for cytosine to uracil (17.86%) editing. More than half of the edited miRNAs showed increased stability, 72.7% of which had ΔΔG values less than -6.0 Kcal/mole and for all of them the edited adenosines mis-paired with cytosines on the pre-miRNA structure. A seed-editing event in hsa-miR-411 (with A - C mismatch) lead to increased expression of the mature form compared to the unedited version in cell culture experiments. Further, small RNA sequencing of GBM patients identified significant miRNA hypoediting which correlated with downregulation of ADAR2 both in metadata and qRT-PCR based validation. Twenty-two significant (11 novel) A-to-I hypoediting events were identified in GBM samples. This study highlights the importance of specific sequence and structural requirements of pre-miRNA for editing along with a suggestive crucial role for ADAR2. Enrichment of A-to-I editing in seed sequence highlights this as an important layer for genomic regulation in health and disease, especially in human brain.

RNAHelix: computational modeling of nucleic acid structures with Watson-Crick and non-canonical base pairs.

Comprehensive analyses of structural features of non-canonical base pairs within a nucleic acid double helix are limited by the availability of a small number of three dimensional structures. Therefore, a procedure for model building of double helices containing any given nucleotide sequence and base pairing information, either canonical or non-canonical, is seriously needed. Here we describe a program RNAHelix, which is an updated version of our widely used software, NUCGEN. The program can regenerate duplexes using the dinucleotide step and base pair orientation parameters for a given double helical DNA or RNA sequence with defined Watson-Crick or non-Watson-Crick base pairs. The original structure and the corresponding regenerated structure of double helices were found to be very close, as indicated by the small RMSD values between positions of the corresponding atoms. Structures of several usual and unusual double helices have been regenerated and compared with their original structures in terms of base pair RMSD, torsion angles and electrostatic potentials and very high agreements have been noted. RNAHelix can also be used to generate a structure with a sequence completely different from an experimentally determined one or to introduce single to multiple mutation, but with the same set of parameters and hence can also be an important tool in homology modeling and study of mutation induced structural changes.

Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA signature sequences of the genus Idiomarina and Idiomarina woesei sp. nov., a novel marine bacterium isolated from the Andaman Sea.

A Gram-negative, short rod, aerobic bacterium, designated W11(T), was isolated from seawater. Heterotrophic growth was observed at 10-45 °C and pH 6-10. Optimal growth was observed at 30-37 °C and pH 7-9. It can grow in the presence of 0.5-12% NaCl (w/v), and the optimal NaCl required for growth was 5-6%. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity revealed that strain W11(T) clustered within the radiation of the genus Idiomarina and showed 99.24% similarity with Idiomarina donghaiensis JCM 15533(T), 97.64% with Idiomarina marina JCM 15083(T), 97.37% with Idiomarina tainanensis JCM 15084(T) and 97.16% with Idiomarina maritima JCM 15534(T). DNA-DNA similarities between strains W11(T) with other closely related strains were below 70%. Polar lipids included a phosphatidylgylycerol, a diphosphatidylglycerol, a phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified phosopholipid, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. DNA G + C content was 41.2 ± 0.1 mol%. Major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, iso-C17:0, iso-C17:1ω9c, C16:0, iso-C11:0 3OH and C16:1ω7c/C16:1ω7c. The isoprenoid ubiquinone was Q8. On the basis of the present polyphasic taxonomic study, strain W11(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Idiomarina, for which the name Idiomarina woesei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is W11(T) (= DSM 27808(T) = JCM 19499(T) = LMG 27903(T)).

Analysis of stacking overlap in nucleic acid structures: algorithm and application.

RNA contains different secondary structural motifs like pseudo-helices, hairpin loops, internal loops, etc. in addition to anti-parallel double helices and random coils. The secondary structures are mainly stabilized by base-pairing and stacking interactions between the planar aromatic bases. The hydrogen bonding strength and geometries of base pairs are characterized by six intra-base pair parameters. Similarly, stacking can be represented by six local doublet parameters. These dinucleotide step parameters can describe the quality of stacking between Watson-Crick base pairs very effectively. However, it is quite difficult to understand the stacking pattern for dinucleotides consisting of non canonical base pairs from these parameters. Stacking interaction is a manifestation of the interaction between two aromatic bases or base pairs and thus can be estimated best by the overlap area between the planar aromatic moieties. We have calculated base pair overlap between two consecutive base pairs as the buried van der Waals surface between them. In general, overlap values show normal distribution for the Watson-Crick base pairs in most double helices within a range from 45 to 50 Å(2) irrespective of base sequence. The dinucleotide steps with non-canonical base pairs also are seen to have high overlap value, although their twist and few other parameters are rather unusual. We have analyzed hairpin loops of different length, bulges within double helical structures and pseudo-continuous helices using our algorithm. The overlap area analyses indicate good stacking between few looped out bases especially in GNRA tetraloop, which was difficult to quantitatively characterise from analysis of the base pair or dinucleotide step parameters. This parameter is also seen to be capable to distinguish pseudo-continuous helices from kinked helix junctions.