Protein-Facilitated Ribozyme Folding and Catalysis

In vivo, large RNAs rely on proteins to fold to their native conformation. In the case of the S. cerevisiae group II intron ai5 gamma, the DEAD-box protein Mss116 has been shown to promote the formation of the catalytically active structure. However, it is a matter of debate whether it does this by stabilizing on-pathway intermediates or by disrupting misfolded structures. Here we present the available experimental evidence to distinguish between those mechanisms and discuss the possible interpretations.