title: Designer ribozymes: programming the tRNA specificity into flexizyme.
abstract: Fx3 is an artificial ribozyme with the ability to aminoacylate various tRNAs with phenylalanine and its nonnatural derivatives. Herein we report a simple strategy to build tRNA specificity into the generic Fx3, by appending to its 3'-end a tRNA-specific sequence (TSS), which is complementary to the acceptor stem of the cognate tRNA. This new designer ribozyme, referred to as Fx10, is able to recognize its cognate tRNA via a 10-base-pair interaction that is formed after the invasion of the tRNA acceptor stem by the TSS. We have demonstrated that Fx10 can aminoacylate its cognate tRNA with a high degree of specificity and also discriminate against the noncognate tRNAs. Because the tRNA specificity can be easily programmed into Fx10, it is a custom-made catalyst to generate nonnatural aminoacyl-tRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ramaswamy
authors.forename: Hirohide
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiba
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suga
mesh_terms: D000215:Acylation; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012343:RNA, Transfer