New ligase-derived RNA polymerase ribozymes.
The search is underway for a catalytic RNA molecule capable of self-replication. Finding such a ribozyme would lend crucial support to the RNA World hypothesis, which holds that very early life-forms relied on RNA for both replicating and storing genetic information. We previously reported an RNA polymerase isolated from a pool of variants of an existing RNA ligase ribozyme. Here we report eight additional ligase-derived polymerase ribozymes isolated from this pool. Because each of them is a new potential starting point for further in vitro evolution and engineering, together they substantially enrich the set of candidates from which an RNA replicase ribozyme might eventually emerge.
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/Biology Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Michael S
MS
Lawrence
David P
DP
Bartel
D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011130:RNA Ligase (ATP) / Q000378:metabolism*; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012313:RNA; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; D011130:RNA Ligase (ATP)