Determining the Influential Properties for Targeting RNA Secondary Structures with Small Molecules

Overview

Purpose: RNA structures are known to have implications in diseases and serve as a potential therapeutic target. One method for targeting RNA is using small molecules. RNA secondary structures create binding sites that allow small molecules to bind to RNA. Small molecules have been found to have properties that make them favorable for RNA binding, however, these properties are still being discovered. This research aimed to determine the small molecule properties favorable for RNA binding using a set of small molecules with different properties compared to other known small molecule RNA binders to evaluate if they would bind and the properties that influence their binding. Method: RNA titration was performed to determine each RNA structure’s KD with an indicator. A small molecule indicator displacement assay was performed, and the percent displacement of each small molecule at various concentrations was obtained. The small molecule properties were then analyzed using a principal component analysis. Results: It was found that none of the small molecules showed a positive percent displacement trend for either of the RNA structures and that the properties of the small molecules had an equal contribution to the variance in the principal component analysis. Conclusions: These experiments show that none of the chosen small molecules bound and, as expected, none of the small molecule properties were influential in the binding interaction.

Competition history

• JSHS 2023 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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