title: The eucaryal tRNA splicing endonuclease recognizes a tripartite set of RNA elements.
abstract: The tRNA splicing endonuclease cleaves intron-containing tRNA precursors on both sides of the intron. The prevailing belief has been that the enzyme binds only to the mature domain through the invariant bases. We show instead that, for recognition, the endonuclease utilizes distinct sets of structural elements, several of which are within the intron. One subset of recognition elements, localized in the mature domain, is needed for recognition of both cleavage sites, while two other subsets, localized at the exon-intron boundaries, are used for recognition of either one or the other cleavage site. The two cleavage sites are essentially independent: neither is required by the other for cleavage to take place. These results support a two-active-site model for the eucaryal endonuclease.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology, CNR, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Nicola Negri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fabbri
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bufardeci
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Baldi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gandini Attardi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mattoccia
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Tocchini-Valentini
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism*; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology; D005091:Exons / Q000502:physiology; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / Q000502:physiology; D007438:Introns / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012326:RNA Splicing / Q000502:physiology; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D015003:Yeasts / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012322:RNA Precursors; D004722:Endoribonucleases; C051012:splicing endonuclease