title: RNA-catalyzed RNA ligation on an external RNA template.
abstract: Variants of the hc ligase ribozyme, which catalyzes ligation of the 3' end of an RNA substrate to the 5' end of the ribozyme, were utilized to evolve a ribozyme that catalyzes ligation reactions on an external RNA template. The evolved ribozyme catalyzes the joining of an oligonucleotide 3'-hydroxyl to the 5'-triphosphate of an RNA hairpin molecule. The ribozyme can also utilize various substrate sequences, demonstrating a largely sequence-independent mechanism for substrate recognition. The ribozyme also carries out the ligation of two oligonucleotides that are bound at adjacent positions on a complementary template. Finally, it catalyzes addition of mononucleoside 5'-triphosphates onto the 3' end of an oligonucleotide primer in a template-dependent manner. The development of ribozymes that catalyze polymerase-type reactions contributes to the notion that an RNA world could have existed during the early history of life on Earth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: McGinness
authors.forename: Gerald F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011130:RNA Ligase (ATP) / Q000378:metabolism; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013698:Templates, Genetic
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D011130:RNA Ligase (ATP)