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The hammerhead ribozyme.

K F Blount·O C Uhlenbeck
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Abstract

The hammerhead ribozyme is a small RNA motif consisting of three helices that intersect at a conserved core. When correctly folded, the hammerhead ribozyme stimulates nearly complete cleavage of the phosphodiester chain at a defined internal site to give 2',3'-cyclic and 5'-hydroxy termini. The cleavage rate is approx. 1 min(-1) at 25 degrees C, pH 7.5, and increases proportionally with hydroxide ion concentration between pH 5 and pH 9. As the rate of non-catalysed cleavage of RNA to form the same products is approx. 10(-6) min(-1) under similar conditions, an important goal is to understand how the folded structure of this small ribozyme increases the rate of alkaline cleavage 10(6)-fold at this specific site.

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Base CompositionCatalysisCationsNucleic Acid ConformationProtein ConformationRNA, CatalyticRNA, ViralStructure-Activity RelationshipJournal ArticleReview

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BibTeXRIS

K F Blount, O C Uhlenbeck. 2002. The hammerhead ribozyme.. https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0301119

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