U2 spliceosomal RNA

U2 spliceosomal snRNAs are a species of small nuclear RNA (snRNA) molecules found in the major spliceosomal (Sm) machinery of virtually all eukaryotic organisms. In vivo, U2 snRNA along with its associated polypeptides assemble to produce the U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP), an essential component of the major spliceosomal complex. The major spliceosomal-splicing pathway is occasionally referred to as U2 dependent, based on a class of Sm intron—found in mRNA primary transcripts—that are recognized exclusively by the U2 snRNP during early stages of spliceosomal assembly. In addition to U2 dependent intron recognition, U2 snRNA has been theorized to serve a catalytic role in the chemistry of pre-RNA splicing as well. Similar to ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), Sm snRNAs must mediate both RNA:RNA and RNA:protein contacts and hence have evolved specialized, highly conserved, primary and secondary structural elements to facilitate these types of interactions.

Shortly after the discovery that mRNA primary transcripts contain long, non-coding intervening sequences (introns) by Sharp and Roberts, Joan Steitz began work to characterize the biochemical mechanism of intron excision. The curious observation that a sequence found in the 5´ region of the U1 snRNA exhibited extensive base pairing complementarity with conserved sequences across 5´ splice junctions in hnRNA transcripts prompted speculation that certain snRNAs may be involved in recognizing splice site boundaries through RNA:RNA contacts. Only recently have atomic crystal structures revealed demonstrably that the original conjecture was indeed correct, even if the complexity of these interactions were not fully realized at the time.