title: Nonenzymatic hydrolysis of oligoribonucleotides. V. The elements affecting the process of self-hydrolysis.
abstract: Chemical instability of some of the phosphodiester bonds, often observed in large RNAs, visualizes the autocatalytic properties of this class of nucleic acids. Unexpectedly, selective hydrolysis occurs also in short oligoribonucleotides (as short as a tetramer or hexamer). Herein, we describe additional experiments which support the conclusion that the hydrolysis is not due to ribonuclease contamination but is of autocatalytic origin and is related to the sequence and structure of single-stranded oligomers. Moreover, we show that the presence in the reaction mixture of polyamines, such as spermidine, is essential for hydrolysis of oligoribonucleotides.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bibiłło
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ziomek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Figlerowicz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kierzek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D016808:Tetrahymena thermophila / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012260:Ribonucleases