 | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (June 2024) |
A wobble base pair is a pairing between two nucleotides in RNA molecules that does not follow Watson-Crick base pair rules.[1] The four main wobble base pairs are guanine-uracil (G-U), hypoxanthine-uracil (I-U), hypoxanthine-adenine (I-A), and hypoxanthine-cytosine (I-C). In order to maintain consistency of nucleic acid nomenclature, "I" is used for hypoxanthine because hypoxanthine is the nucleobase of inosine;[2] nomenclature otherwise follows the names of nucleobases and their corresponding nucleosides (e.g., "G" for both guanine and guanosine – as well as for deoxyguanosine). The thermodynamic stability of a wobble base pair is comparable to that of a Watson-Crick base pair. Wobble base pairs are fundamental in RNA secondary structure and are critical for the proper translation of the genetic code.
- ^ Campbell, Neil; Reece, Jane B. (2011). Biology (9th ed.). Boston: Benjamin Cummings. pp. 339–342. ISBN 978-0321558237.
- ^ Kuchin, Sergei (19 May 2011). "Covering All the Bases in Genetics: Simple Shorthands and Diagrams for Teaching Base Pairing to Biology Undergraduates". Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. 12 (1): 64–66. doi:10.1128/jmbe.v12i1.267. PMC 3577215. PMID 23653747. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013.
The correct name of the base in inosine (which is a nucleoside) is hypoxanthine, however, for consistency with the nucleic acid nomenclature, the shorthand [I] is more appropriate...