title: Site selection by the tRNA splicing endonuclease of Xenopus laevis.
abstract: To investigate the mechanism by which the purified Xenopus tRNA splicing endonuclease recognizes its splice sites, we utilized yeast pre-tRNA(3Leu) and pre-tRNA(Phe) variants constructed by in vitro mutagenesis. We found that the endonuclease interacts with conserved features of the mature tRNA domain. In particular, U8 and C56 may be examples of contact points between protein and RNA. Given that there are no conserved sequences at the splice junctions, the specificity of cutting at both splice sites is determined by the length of the anticodon stem. Although in general, the sequence of the intron is unimportant for splicing, there are some structural requirements.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mattoccia
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Baldi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gandini-Attardi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciafrè
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Tocchini-Valentini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007438:Introns; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010957:Plasmids; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D012356:RNA, Transfer, Leu / Q000378:metabolism; D012360:RNA, Transfer, Phe / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012322:RNA Precursors; D012356:RNA, Transfer, Leu; D012360:RNA, Transfer, Phe; D004722:Endoribonucleases; C051012:splicing endonuclease