kissingloop
Kissing loop is an RNA structural motif in which two hairpin loop regions interact through base pairing between complementary nucleotides within the loops. The interaction is typically inter-molecular, pairing nucleotides in one loop with those in another loop, though it can occur between loops within the same RNA molecule.
Mechanism: A short stretch of base pairs forms initially, often aided by cations and, in some systems,
Biological context: The best-known example is the dimerization initiation signal loop in the HIV-1 genome, where
Structural and experimental notes: Kissing loop interactions are studied by NMR, X-ray crystallography, and cryo-electron microscopy,
Applications: In RNA nanotechnology, kissing-loop motifs are used to assemble multistranded RNA nanoparticles and regulate assembly