The Moco-II RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure identified by bioinformatics.[1] However, only 8 examples of the RNA motif are known. The RNAs are potentially in the 5' untranslated regions of genes related to molybdenum cofactor (Moco), specifically a gene that encodes a molybdenum-binding domain and a nitrate reductase, which uses Moco as a cofactor. Thus the RNA might be involved in the regulation of genes based on Moco levels. Reliable predictions of Moco-II RNAs are restricted to deltaproteobacteria, but a Moco-II RNA might be present in a betaproteobacterial species. The Moco RNA motif is another RNA that is associated with Moco, and its complex secondary structure and genetic experiments have led to proposals that it is a riboswitch. However, the simpler structure of the Moco-II RNA motif (see diagram) is less typical of riboswitches. Moco-II RNAs are typically followed by a predicted rho-independent transcription terminator.

Moco-II RNA
Consensus secondary structure of Moco-II RNAs
Identifiers
SymbolMoco-II RNA
RfamRF01713
Other data
Domain(s)Deltaproteobacteria
PDB structuresPDBe

References

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  1. ^ Weinberg Z, Wang JX, Bogue J, et al. (March 2010). "Comparative genomics reveals 104 candidate structured RNAs from bacteria, archaea and their metagenomes". Genome Biol. 11 (3): R31. doi:10.1186/gb-2010-11-3-r31. PMC 2864571. PMID 20230605.
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