Dynamics-based amplification of RNA function and its characterization by using NMR spectroscopy

The ever-increasing cellular roles ascribed to RNA raise fundamental questions regarding how a biopolymer composed of only four chemically similar building-block nucleotides achieves such functional diversity. Here, I discuss how RNA achieves added mechanistic and chemical complexity by undergoing highly controlled conformational changes in response to a variety of cellular signals. I examine pathways for achieving selectivity in these conformational changes that rely to different extents on the structure and dynamics of RNA. Finally, I review solution-state NMR techniques that can be used to characterize RNA structural dynamics and its relationship to function.