Morphing the minimal and full-length hammerhead ribozymes: implications for the cleavage mechanism
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William G. Scott
Abstract
The hammerhead ribozyme is a small, intensively studied catalytic RNA, and has been used as a prototype for understanding how RNA catalysis works. In 2003, the importance of a set of tertiary contacts that appear in natural sequences of the hammerhead RNA was finally understood. The presence of these contact regions in stems I and II in ‘full-length hammerhead ribozymes’ is accompanied by an up to 1000-fold catalytic rate enhancement, indicating a profound structural effect upon the active site. Although the new structure resolved most of what appeared to be irreconcilable differences with mechanistic studies in solution, it did so in a way that is simultaneously reconcilable with earlier crystallographic mechanistic studies, within the limits imposed by the truncated sequence of the minimal hammerhead. Here we present an analysis of the correspondence between the full-length and minimal hammerhead crystal structures, using adiabatic morphing calculations that for the first time test the hypothesis that the minimal hammerhead structure occasionally visits the active conformation, both in solution and in the crystalline state in a sterically allowed manner, and argue that this is the simplest hypothesis that consistently explains all of the experimental observations.
©2007 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
Articles in the same Issue
- 25 years of catalytic RNA: looking younger than ever!
- On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the discovery of catalytic RNA
- An overview of the RNA world – for now
- Group II introns: structure, folding and splicing mechanism
- Expression of protein-coding genes embedded in ribosomal DNA
- Importance of tRNA interactions with 23S rRNA for peptide bond formation on the ribosome: studies with substrate analogs
- The spliceosome: a ribozyme at heart?
- A chemo-genetic approach for the study of nucleobase participation in nucleolytic ribozymes
- Long-range impact of peripheral joining elements on structure and function of the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme
- A 2′-methyl or 2′-methylene group at G+1 in precursor tRNA interferes with Mg2+ binding at the enzyme-substrate interface in E-S complexes of E. coli RNase P
- Morphing the minimal and full-length hammerhead ribozymes: implications for the cleavage mechanism
- Idiosyncratic cleavage and ligation activity of individual hammerhead ribozymes and core sequence variants thereof
- RNA self-processing towards changed topology and sequence oligomerization
- Plasminogen-dependent internalization of soluble melanotransferrin involves the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein and annexin II
- Could the effect of modeled microgravity on osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells be reversed by regulation of signaling pathways?
Articles in the same Issue
- 25 years of catalytic RNA: looking younger than ever!
- On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the discovery of catalytic RNA
- An overview of the RNA world – for now
- Group II introns: structure, folding and splicing mechanism
- Expression of protein-coding genes embedded in ribosomal DNA
- Importance of tRNA interactions with 23S rRNA for peptide bond formation on the ribosome: studies with substrate analogs
- The spliceosome: a ribozyme at heart?
- A chemo-genetic approach for the study of nucleobase participation in nucleolytic ribozymes
- Long-range impact of peripheral joining elements on structure and function of the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme
- A 2′-methyl or 2′-methylene group at G+1 in precursor tRNA interferes with Mg2+ binding at the enzyme-substrate interface in E-S complexes of E. coli RNase P
- Morphing the minimal and full-length hammerhead ribozymes: implications for the cleavage mechanism
- Idiosyncratic cleavage and ligation activity of individual hammerhead ribozymes and core sequence variants thereof
- RNA self-processing towards changed topology and sequence oligomerization
- Plasminogen-dependent internalization of soluble melanotransferrin involves the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein and annexin II
- Could the effect of modeled microgravity on osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells be reversed by regulation of signaling pathways?
