IMES-3 RNA motif

Consensus secondary structure of IMES-3 RNAs. This figure is adapted from supplementary data of a previous publication.[1]

The IMES-3 RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure that was identified based on metagenomics and bioinformatics,[1] and the underlying RNA sequences were identified independently by an earlier study.[2] These RNAs are present in environmental sequences, and as of 2009 are not known to be present in any cultivated species. IMES-3 RNAs are abundant in comparison to ribosomes[1] in RNAs sampled from the Pacific Ocean.[2][3]

  1. ^ a b c Weinberg Z, Perreault J, Meyer MM, Breaker RR (December 2009). "Exceptional structured noncoding RNAs revealed by bacterial metagenome analysis". Nature. 462 (7273): 656–659. Bibcode:2009Natur.462..656W. doi:10.1038/nature08586. PMC 4140389. PMID 19956260.
  2. ^ a b Shi Y, Tyson GW, DeLong EF (May 2009). "Metatranscriptomics reveals unique microbial small RNAs in the ocean's water column". Nature. 459 (7244): 266–269. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..266S. doi:10.1038/nature08055. PMID 19444216. S2CID 4340144.
  3. ^ Frias-Lopez J, Shi Y, Tyson GW, et al. (March 2008). "Microbial community gene expression in ocean surface waters". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 (10): 3805–3810. doi:10.1073/pnas.0708897105. PMC 2268829. PMID 18316740.