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Self‐cleaving catalytic RNA
Author(s) -
Long David M.,
Uhlenbeck Olke C.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.7.1.8422971
Subject(s) - chemistry , catalysis , rna , biochemistry , gene
We describe the structures and catalytic properties of several naturally occurring self‐cleaving RNA motifs that give 2′, 3′ cyclic phosphate products. The hammerhead and hairpin motifs are derived from plant pathogenic RNAs and the delta motif is part of the human hepatitis delta element. A fourth motif from Neurospora is less well characterized. By assembling the self‐cleaving RNAs from more than one oligoribonucleotide, the cleavage reaction can be examined under a variety of conditions and catalytic turnover can be demonstrated. Mutagenesis and chemical methods to introduce modified nucleotides allowed the structural requirements to be deduced. The role of divalent cations in the catalytic mechanism is discussed.— Long, D. M., and Uhlenbeck, O. C. Self‐cleaving catalytic RNA. FASEB J. 7: 25‐30; 1993.