Open AccessNonenzymatic hydrolysis of oligoribonucleotides. V. The elements affecting the process of self-hydrolysis.
Author(s) -
Arkadiusz Bibiłło,
Krzysztof Ziomek,
Marek Figlerowicz,
Ryszard Kierzek
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
acta biochimica polonica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.452
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1734-154X
pISSN - 0001-527X
DOI - 10.18388/abp.1999_4192
Subject(s) - phosphodiester bond , chemistry , random hexamer , hydrolysis , autocatalysis , ribonuclease , tetramer , guanosine , nucleic acid , biochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , rna , enzyme , gene , catalysis
Chemical instability of some of the phosphodiester bonds, often observed in large RNAs, visualizes the autocatalytic properties of this class of nucleic acids. Unexpectedly, selective hydrolysis occurs also in short oligoribonucleotides (as short as a tetramer or hexamer). Herein, we describe additional experiments which support the conclusion that the hydrolysis is not due to ribonuclease contamination but is of autocatalytic origin and is related to the sequence and structure of single-stranded oligomers. Moreover, we show that the presence in the reaction mixture of polyamines, such as spermidine, is essential for hydrolysis of oligoribonucleotides.