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Enhancement of the Catalytic Activity of Hammerhead Ribozymes by Organic Cations
Author(s) -
Nakano Shuichi,
Yamashita Hirofumi,
Sugimoto Naoki
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.202100280
Subject(s) - ribozyme , hammerhead ribozyme , catalysis , chemistry , ligase ribozyme , hairpin ribozyme , rna , cleavage (geology) , combinatorial chemistry , turnover number , dissociation (chemistry) , mammalian cpeb3 ribozyme , stereochemistry , biochemistry , organic chemistry , biology , gene , paleontology , fracture (geology)
Catalytic turnover is important for the application of ribozymes to biotechnology. However, the turnover is often impaired because of the intrinsic high stability of base pairs with cleaved RNA products. Here, organic cations were used as additives to improve the catalytic performance of hammerhead ribozyme constructs that exhibit different kinetic behaviors. Kinetic analysis of substrate cleavage demonstrated that bulky cations, specifically tetra‐substituted ammonium ions containing pentyl groups or a benzyl group, have the ability to greatly increase the turnover rate of the ribozymes. Thermal stability analysis of RNA structures revealed that the bulky cations promote the dissociation of cleaved products and refolding of incorrectly folded structures with small disruption of the catalytic structure. The use of bulky cations is a convenient method for enhancing the catalytic activity of hammerhead ribozymes, and the approach may be useful for advancing ribozyme technologies.