Professor

Office: 212 Physical Sciences Laboratory Building
Phone: (419) 372-8663/2753
Email: leontis@bgsu.edu

Research
TectoRNA molecules are defined as artificial RNA molecules capable of self-assembly to form nanoscale RNA structures. The cover illustration shows three-dimensional models for two different tectoRNA units that, in the presence of magnesium ions, self-dimerize through specific, high-affinity tertiary interactions involving a GAAA tetraloop (in red) and its specific receptor (in green) as described by Jaeger et al. in Nucleic Acids Res. (2000) 29. The helical distance separating the two interacting motifs in the tectoRNA unit can vary by one helical turn (in violet). By taking advantage of the modular character of natural RNA molecules and the increasing number of known RNA motifs, a great variety of tectoRNA molecules can potentially be generated to form nanoscale RNA objects.

Also see:

• RNA Ontology Consortium
• BGSU takes lead role in international RNA project
• RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide
• Isostericity Matrices
  

Publications

1. Moore, P.B., et al., Physical studies on a nucleoprotein from the ribosome of E. coli. J Biomol Struct Dyn, 1983. 1(2): p. 383-94.
2. Leontis, N.B. and P.B. Moore, A small angle x-ray scattering study of a fragment derived from E. coli 5S RNA.Nucleic Acids Res, 1984. 12(4): p. 2193-203.
3. Leontis, N.B., P. Ghosh, and P.B. Moore, Effect of magnesium ion on the structure of the 5S RNA from Escherichia coli. An imino proton magnetic resonance study of the helix I, IV, and V regions of the molecule.  Biochemistry, 1986. 25(23): p. 7386-92.
4. Leontis, N.B. and P.B. Moore, Imino proton exchange in the 5S RNA of Escherichia coli and its complex with protein L25 at 490 MHz. Biochemistry, 1986. 25(19): p. 5736-44.
5. Leontis, N.B. and P.B. Moore, NMR evidence for dynamic secondary structure in helices II and III of the RNA of Escherichia coli. Biochemistry, 1986. 25(13): p. 3916-25.
6. Gewirth, D.T., et al., Secondary structure of 5S RNA: NMR experiments on RNA molecules partially labeled with nitrogen-15. Biochemistry, 1987. 26(16): p. 5213-20.
7. Leontis, N., et al., Effects of tRNA-intron structure on cleavage of precursor tRNAs by RNase P from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.Nucleic Acids Res, 1988. 16(6): p. 2537-52.
8. Moore, P.B., et al., Preparation of 5S RNA-related materials for nuclear magnetic resonance and crystallography studies. Methods Enzymol, 1988. 164: p. 158-74.
9. Leontis, N.B., W. Kwok, and J.S. Newman, Stability and structure of three-way DNA junctions containing unpaired nucleotides. Nucleic Acids Res, 1991. 19(4): p. 759-66.
10. Leontis, N.B., et al., A model for the solution structure of a branched, three-strand DNA complex. J Biomol Struct Dyn, 1993. 11(2): p. 215-23.
11. Ladbury, J.E., J.M. Sturtevant, and N.B. Leontis, The thermodynamics of formation of a three-strand, DNA three-way junction complex. Biochemistry, 1994. 33(22): p. 6828-33.
12. Nussbaum, J.M., et al., Structure-specific binding and photosensitizedcleavage of branched DNA three-way junction complexes by cationic porphyrins. Photochem Photobiol, 1994. 59(5): p. 515-28.
13. Zhong, M., et al., Effects of unpaired bases on the conformation and stability of three-arm DNA junctions.Biochemistry, 1994. 33(12): p. 3660-7.
14. Kadrmas, J.L., A.J. Ravin, and N.B. Leontis, Relative stabilities of DNA three-way, four-way and five-way junctions (multi-helix junction loops): unpaired nucleotides can be stabilizing or destabilizing. Nucleic Acids Res, 1995. 23(12): p. 2212-22.
15. Leontis, N.B., et al., Structural studies of DNA three-way junctions. Methods Enzymol, 1995. 261: p. 183-207.
16. Leontis, N.B., et al., Helical stacking in DNA three-way junctions containing two unpaired pyrimidines: proton NMR studies. Biophys J, 1995. 68(1): p. 251-65.
17. Ouporov, I.V. and N.B. Leontis, Refinement of the solution structure of a branched DNA three-way junction. Biophys J, 1995. 68(1): p. 266-74.
18. Leontis, N.B. and E. Westhof, Conserved geometrical base-pairing patterns in RNA. Q Rev Biophys, 1998. 31(4): p. 399-455.
19. Leontis, N.B. and E. Westhof, A common motif organizes the structure of multi-helix loops in 16 S and 23 S ribosomal RNAs. J Mol Biol, 1998. 283(3): p. 571-83. Citations (38). Westhof Citations
20. Leontis, N.B. and E. Westhof, The 5S rRNA loop E: chemical probing and phylogenetic data versus crystal structure.RNA, 1998. 4(9): p. 1134-53.
21. Woodson, S.A. and N.B. Leontis, Structure and dynamics of ribosomal RNA.Curr Opin Struct Biol, 1998. 8(3): p. 294-300.
22. Guliaev, A.B. and N.B. Leontis, Cationic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin fully intercalates at 5'-CG-3' steps of duplex DNA in solution. Biochemistry, 1999. 38(47): p. 15425-37.
23. Thiviyanathan, V., et al., Hybrid-hybrid matrix structural refinement of a DNA three-way junction from 3D NOESY-NOESY. J Biomol NMR, 1999. 14(3): p. 209-21.
24. Aoudia, M., et al., Self-assembled complexes of oligopeptides and metalloporphyrins: measurements of the reorganization and electronic interaction energies for photoinduced electron-transfer reactions. Biophys Chem, 2000. 83(2): p. 121-40.
25. Jaeger, L. and N.B. Leontis, Tecto-RNA: One-dimensional Self-assembly through Tertiary Interactions. Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed., 2000. 14: p. 2521-2524.
26. Jaeger, L. and N.B. Leontis, Tecto-RNA: One-Dimensional Self-Assembly through Tertiary Interactions This work was carried out in Strasbourg with the support of grants to N.B.L. from the NIH (1R15 GM55898) and the NIH Fogarty Institute (1-F06-TW02251-01) and the support of the CNRS to L.J. The authors wish to thank Eric Westhof for his support and encouragement of this work. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, 2000. 39(14): p. 2521-2524.
27. Thiviyanathan, V., et al., Solution conformation of a bulged adenosine base in an RNA duplex by relaxation matrix refinement. J Mol Biol, 2000. 300(5): p. 1143-54.
28. Westhof, E. and N. Leontis, Atomic Glimpses on a Billion-Year-Old Molecular Machine. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, 2000. 39(9): p. 1587-1591.
29. Csaszar, K., et al., Molecular Dynamics of the Frame-shifting Pseudoknot from Beet Western Yellows Virus: The Role of Non-Watson-Crick Base-pairing, Ordered Hydration, Cation Binding and Base Mutations on Stability and Unfolding. J Mol Biol, 2001. 313(5): p. 1073-91.
30. Jaeger, L., E. Westhof, and N.B. Leontis, TectoRNA: modular assembly units for the construction of RNA nano- objects. Nucleic Acids Res, 2001. 29(2): p. 455-63.
31. Leontis, N.B. and E. Westhof, Geometric nomenclature and classification of RNA base pairs. RNA, 2001. 7(4): p. 499-512.
32. Leontis, N.B., J. Stombaugh, and E. Westhof, The non-Watson-Crick base pairs and their associated isostericity matrices. Nucleic Acids Res, 2002. 30(16): p. 3497-531. 
33. Myshkin, E., N.B. Leontis, and G.S. Bullerjahn, Computational Simulation of the Docking of Prochlorothrix hollandica Plastocyanin to Photosystem I: Modeling the Electron Transfer Complex. Biophys J, 2002. 82(6): p. 3305-13.
34. Waugh, A., et al., RNAML: a standard syntax for exchanging RNA information. RNA, 2002. 8(6): p. 707-17.