DUF3800 RNA motifs refer to conserved RNA structures that were discovered by bioinformatics and are usually located nearby to genes that encode proteins containing the conserved domain called "DUF3800". However, the gene can be located 5′ or 3′ relative to the RNA, and could be on the same or on the opposite DNA strand. This arrangement is typical of RNA and proteins that function as an RNA-protein complex, but could have other explanations. The function of this protein domain is unknown, and no specific biological function has been proposed for the RNA. However, after the detection of the RNA motifs, DUF3800 domains were predicted to be involved with retrons.
