title: The hammerhead ribozyme.
abstract: The hammerhead ribozyme is a small RNA motif consisting of three helices that intersect at a conserved core. When correctly folded, the hammerhead ribozyme stimulates nearly complete cleavage of the phosphodiester chain at a defined internal site to give 2',3'-cyclic and 5'-hydroxy termini. The cleavage rate is approx. 1 min(-1) at 25 degrees C, pH 7.5, and increases proportionally with hydroxide ion concentration between pH 5 and pH 9. As the rate of non-catalysed cleavage of RNA to form the same products is approx. 10(-6) min(-1) under similar conditions, an important goal is to understand how the folded structure of this small ribozyme increases the rate of alkaline cleavage 10(6)-fold at this specific site.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder 80300-0215, USA.
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Blount
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Uhlenbeck
mesh_terms: D001482:Base Composition; D002384:Catalysis; D002412:Cations; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry*; D012367:RNA, Viral; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012367:RNA, Viral; C427204:hammerhead ribozyme