title: Group II introns: highly specific endonucleases with modular structures and diverse catalytic functions.
abstract: Group II introns are large catalytic RNAs with a remarkable repertoire of reactions. Here we present construct designs and protocols that were used to develop a set of kinetic frameworks for studying the structure and reaction mechanisms of group II introns and ribozymes derived from them. In addition, we discuss application of these systems to structure/function analysis of the ai5gamma group II intron.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, 630 West 168 Street, Box 36, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fedorova
authors.forename: Linhui Julie
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Anna Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pyle
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007438:Introns; D007700:Kinetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012326:RNA Splicing; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic