In silico survey of the central conserved regions in viroids of the family for conserved asymmetric loop structures.

Viroids are the smallest replicative pathogens, consisting of RNA circles (∼300 nucleotides) that require host machinery to replicate. Structural RNA elements recruit these host factors. Currently, many of these structural elements and the nature of their interactions are unknown.

Enrichment of midsized RNAs with manganese chloride precipitation.

Enrichment of specific RNAs is important for RNA analysis. MnCl has been used previously to enrich viroid RNA fractions from total RNA from infected plants. We have expanded this method to show that MnCl can enrich single-stranded as well as structured RNAs of 450 nt and below from a total RNA preparation.