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Self‐splicing of the Tetrahymena group I ribozyme without conserved base‐triples
Author(s) -
Ikawa Yoshiya,
Yoshioka Wataru,
Ohki Yasushi,
Shiraishi Hideaki,
Inoue Tan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
genes to cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1365-2443
pISSN - 1356-9597
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2443.2001.00437.x
Subject(s) - ribozyme , rna splicing , biology , intron , tetrahymena , vs ribozyme , group ii intron , mammalian cpeb3 ribozyme , base pair , hairpin ribozyme , genetics , base (topology) , rna , dna , gene , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Background Group I introns share a conserved core region consisting of two domains, P8‐P3‐P7 and P4‐P6, joined by four base‐triples. We showed previously that the T4 td intron can perform phosphoester transfer reactions at two splice sites in the absence of both P4‐P6 and the conserved base‐triples, whereas it is barely able to perform the intact splicing reaction due to the difficulty of conducting the sequential reactions. Results Based on previous findings, we constructed a bimolecular ribozyme lacking a large portion of P4‐P6 and the base‐triples from the Tetrahymena intron, on the assumption that the long–range interactions of the peripheral regions in the two RNAs can compensate for the deteriorated core. The bimolecular ribozyme performed the intact splicing reaction. Conclusion The present analysis indicates that the base‐triples are nonessential, but that L4 and the distal part of P4 in P4‐P6 are important for conducting the splicing reaction. The reconstituted self‐splicing ribozyme provides an amenable system for analysing the role(s) of elements in the core region in the self‐splicing reaction mechanism.