Dr. Soo-Chen Cheng investigates the molecular mechanism of the pre-mRNA splicing reaction, revealing flexibility of the reaction mediated by conformational change of the spliceosome at the catalytic center.

Nuclear pre-mRNA splicing takes place via two steps of transesterification reaction catalyzed by the spliceosome. The spliceosome is highly flexible both structurally and chemically. It can catalyze reversible splicing and other hydrolytic reactions through changing the conformation of the catalytic center.