Single RNA kissing complexes studied by fluorescence resonance energy transfer

We have used single molecular-pair fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to probe the conformation of a RNA loop-loop “kissing complex” formed by two small RNA hairpins (R1inv and R2inv) derived from Escherichia coli (ColE1) plasmid-encoded transcripts, RNA I and RNA II. This RNA kissing complex is a critical intermediate in a multi-step hybridization pathway which controls plasmid replication. Biotinylated RNA molecules were labeled with donor and acceptor dyes on their 5' ends and immobilized on a biotinylated surface using streptavidin. Fluorescence from the donor and acceptor dyes was collected and measured by photon counting detectors in two spectrally separated channels in a customized confocal microscope. Quantitative measurement of intramolecular distances between 5' ends of the RNA was obtained using donor-only single molecule FRET. This donor-only single molecule FRET technique is described in detail and validated through determination of the distance between 5' ends of 8mer A-form RNA helices of known structure.

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