The ''flpD'' RNA motif is a conserved
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...
structure discovered using
bioinformatics
Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...
.
It is detected only in
methanogen
Methanogens are anaerobic archaea that produce methane as a byproduct of their energy metabolism, i.e., catabolism. Methane production, or methanogenesis, is the only biochemical pathway for Adenosine triphosphate, ATP generation in methanogens. A ...
ic
archaea
Archaea ( ) is a Domain (biology), domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea only included its Prokaryote, prokaryotic members, but this has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even thou ...
, and is generally located in the apparent
5' untranslated region
The 5′ untranslated region (also known as 5′ UTR, leader sequence, transcript leader, or leader RNA) is the region of a messenger RNA (mRNA) that is directly upstream from the initiation codon. This region is important for the regulation of ...
of
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
s encoding
hydrogenase
A hydrogenase is an enzyme that Catalysis, catalyses the reversible Redox, oxidation of molecular hydrogen (H2), as shown below:
Hydrogen oxidation () is coupled to the reduction of electron acceptors such as oxygen, nitrate, Ferric, ferric i ...
s that are likely involved in methane metabolism. For example, the ''flpD'' gene itself encodes a subunit of methyl-viologen-reducing hydrogenase.
References
External links
*
Cis-regulatory RNA elements
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