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. 2017 Aug 29;7:9903. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10085-8

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Schematic model for the putative role of (ARN)X motifs in Hfq mediated sRNA-mRNA pairing. Hfq (grey) binding to (ARN)X motifs (blue) in both sRNAs (orange) and mRNAs (dark red) exposes the N-site bases, enabling base stacking between the two RNAs. This (ARN)X-mediated interaction can help to initiate first contact between the two RNA molecules, thereby promoting interaction between complementary regions (green boxes) for sRNA-mRNA annealing. Head-to-head arrangement of the Hfq rings guarantees an antiparallel arrangement of the two interacting RNA molecules.