title: Expanding the scope of RNA catalysis.
abstract: The basic notions of transition state theory have been exploited in the past to generate highly selective catalysts from the vast library of antibody molecules in the immune system. These same ideas were used to isolate an RNA molecule, from a large library of RNAs, that catalyzes the isomerization of a bridged biphenyl. The RNA-catalyzed reaction displays Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a catalytic rate constant (kcat) of 2.8 x 10(-5) per minute and a Michaelis constant (Km) of 542 microM; the reaction is competitively inhibited by the planar transition state analog with an inhibition constant (Ki) value of approximately 7 microM. This approach may provide a general strategy for expanding the scope of RNA catalysis beyond those reactions in which the substrates are nucleic acids or nucleic acid derivatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Prudent
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uno
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Schultz
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002384:Catalysis; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D016337:RNA, Catalytic