stem-loop
Sign in to savethumb|An example of an RNA stem-loop
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Formation and stability
- Structural contexts
- See also
- References
thumb|An example of an RNA stem-loop
Stem-loops are nucleic acid secondary structural elements which form via intramolecular base pairing in single-stranded DNA or RNA. They are also referred to as hairpins or hairpin loops. A stem-loop occurs when two regions of the same nucleic acid strand, usually complementary in nucleotide sequence, base-pair to form a double helix that ends in a loop of unpaired nucleotides.