title: Crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis of an all-RNA U39C mutant of the minimal hairpin ribozyme.
abstract: The hairpin ribozyme is a naturally occurring catalytic RNA composed of two helix-loop-helix domains, A and B, that dock to form the biologically active enzyme. Previously, the crystal structure of the hairpin has been solved as a four-way helical junction that incorporated the U1A protein as an artificial crystal-packing motif [Rupert & Ferré-D'Amaré (2001), Nature (London), 410, 780-786]. Here, the crystallization of a minimal junctionless hairpin ribozyme 64-mer is reported in the absence of protein. Crystals grow in space group P6(1)22, with unit-cell parameters a = 93.1, c = 123.2 A. Complete diffraction data have been collected to 3.35 A resolution. Structural analysis should provide details of intermolecular RNA docking, including the ground-state conformations of the U(39)C mutation relevant to hairpin catalysis.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, FUHS/The Chicago Medical School, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, Illinois 60064, USA.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grum-Tokars
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milovanovic
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wedekind
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D017354:Point Mutation; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; C418481:hairpin ribozyme