Editing Wobble base pair (section)

{{Short description|RNA base pair that does not follow Watson-Crick base pair rules}}
{{Technical|date=June 2024}}
[[Image:Wobble.svg|thumb|right|225px|Wobble base pairs for [[inosine]] and [[guanine]]]]

A '''wobble base pair''' is a pairing between two [[nucleotides]] in [[RNA]] molecules that does not follow Watson-Crick [[base pair]] rules.<ref name="Campbell 9th">{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Neil|last2=Reece|first2=Jane B.|title=Biology|date=2011|publisher=Benjamin Cummings|location=Boston|isbn=978-0321558237|pages=[https://archive.org/details/campbellbiologyj00reec/page/339 339–342]|edition=9th|url=https://archive.org/details/campbellbiologyj00reec/page/339}}</ref> The four main wobble base pairs are [[guanine]]-[[uracil]] ('''G-U'''), [[hypoxanthine]]-[[uracil]] ('''I-U'''), [[hypoxanthine]]-[[adenine]] ('''I-A'''), and [[hypoxanthine]]-[[cytosine]] ('''I-C'''). In order to maintain consistency of nucleic acid nomenclature, "I" is used for hypoxanthine because hypoxanthine is the [[nucleobase]] of [[inosine]];<ref name=Kuchin-JMBE>{{cite journal
 |url= http://jmbe.asm.org/asm/index.php/jmbe/rt/printerFriendly/267/html_111|title        = Covering All the Bases in Genetics: Simple Shorthands and Diagrams for Teaching Base Pairing to Biology Undergraduates
 |last         = Kuchin
 |first        = Sergei
 |date         = 19 May 2011
 |journal      = Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
 |volume       = 12
 |issue        = 1
 |pages        = 64–66
 |doi          = 10.1128/jmbe.v12i1.267
 |pmid         = 23653747
 |pmc          = 3577215
 |quote        = The correct name of the base in inosine (which is a nucleoside) is hypoxanthine, however, for consistency with the nucleic acid nomenclature, the shorthand <nowiki>[</nowiki>I<nowiki>]</nowiki> is more appropriate...
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131017095541/http://jmbe.asm.org/asm/index.php/jmbe/rt/printerFriendly/267/html_111
 |archive-date = 17 October 2013
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>
nomenclature otherwise follows the names of nucleobases and their corresponding nucleosides (e.g., "G" for both guanine and [[guanosine]] – as well as for [[deoxyguanosine]]). The thermodynamic stability of a wobble base pair is comparable to that of a Watson-Crick base pair. Wobble base pairs are fundamental in RNA [[Nucleic acid secondary structure|secondary structure]] and are critical for the proper translation of the [[genetic code]].