PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xiaofei Yang
AU  - Jitender Cheema
AU  - Yueying Zhang
AU  - Hongjing Deng
AU  - Susan Duncan
AU  - Mubarak Ishaq Umar
AU  - Jieyu Zhao
AU  - Qi Liu
AU  - Xiaofeng Cao
AU  - Chun Kit Kwok
AU  - Yiliang Ding
TI  - RNA G-quadruplex structures exist and function <em>in vivo</em>
AID  - 10.1101/839621
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 839621
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/12/839621.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/12/839621.full
AB  - Guanine-rich sequences are able to form complex RNA structures termed RNA G-quadruplexes in vitro. Because of their high stability, RNA G-quadruplexes are proposed to exist in vivo and are suggested to be associated with important biological relevance. However, there is a lack of direct evidence for RNA G-quadruplex formation in living cells. Therefore, it is unclear whether any purported functions are associated with the specific sequence content or the formation of an RNA G-quadruplex structure. Here, we profiled the landscape of those guanine-rich regions with the in vitro folding potential in the Arabidopsis transcriptome. We found a global enrichment of RNA G-quadruplexes with two G-quartets whereby the folding potential is strongly influenced by RNA secondary structures. Using in vitro and in vivo RNA chemical structure profiling, we determined that hundreds of RNA G-quadruplex structures are strongly folded in both Arabidopsis and rice, providing direct evidence of RNA G-quadruplex formation in living eukaryotic cells. Subsequent genetic and biochemical analysis showed that RNA G-quadruplex folding was sufficient to regulate translation and modulate plant growth. Our study reveals the existence of RNA G-quadruplex in vivo, and indicates that RNA G-quadruplex structures act as important regulators of plant development and growth.