Modifications and deletions of helices within the hairpin ribozyme–substrate complex: An active ribozyme lacking helix 1

• DOI: 10.1261/rna.5650904
• Publication Date: 2004-02-17T23:34:29Z
• Authors: ROBERT PINARD; DOMINIC LAMBERT; GULNAR POTHIAWALA; FRANÇOIS MAJOR; JOHN M. BURKE
• Keywords: Hairpin ribozyme; VS ribozyme; Helix (gastropod); Folding (DSP implementation); Protein tertiary structure

Within the hairpin ribozyme, structural elements required for formation of active tertiary structure are localized in two independently folding domains, each consisting an internal loop flanked by helical elements. Here, we present results a systematic examination relationship between and ability RNA to form catalytically structure. Deletions mutational analyses indicate that helix 1 (H1) domain A can be entirely eliminated, while segments helices 2, 3, 4 also deleted. From these results, derive new minimal ribozyme contains three elements, loop, terminal loop. three-dimensional model this truncated was generated using MC-SYM, confirms catalytic core minimized construct adopt is very similar nontruncated version. strategy described study functional importance various residues chemical groups identify specific interdomain interactions. This approach uses physically separated domains derived from motif.