NAR featured article by Lu et al.: the GpU story

[admin]

We have just got a new 3DNA-related paper by Lu et al. published in NAR:  "The RNA backbone plays a crucial role in mediating the intrinsic stability of the GpU dinucleotide platform and the GpUpA/GpA miniduplex". Better yet, this paper has been selected as a featured article! According to the NAR website:

Featured Articles highlight the best papers published in NAR. These articles are chosen by the Executive Editors on the recommendation of Editorial Board Members and Referees. They represent the top 5% of papers in terms of originality, significance and scientific excellence.

In addition to its scientific significance (observation of a novel out-of-plane backbone 'edge'; first example on the RNA sugar-phosphate backbone specificity), this paper should serve as another example of what 3DNA could do (in the right hand), and help to answer the question "Does 3DNA work for RNA?"

For a little more background information about how the GpU story got started, you may be interested in reading my blog post, "What's special about the GpU dinucleotide platform?"

Xiang-Jun Lu