Crystallization and preliminary diffraction analysis of a group I ribozyme from bacteriophage Twort.
Group I introns are catalytic RNAs that are capable of performing a variety of phosphotransesterification reactions including self-splicing and RNA cleavage. The reactions are efficient, accurate and dependent only on the presence of guanosine-nucleotide substrate and sufficient magnesium ion to stabilize the structure of the RNA. To understand how the group I intron active-site facilitates catalysis, crystals of a 242-nucleotide ribozyme bound to a four-nucleotide product RNA have been produced that diffract to 3.6 A resolution. The space group of these crystals is I2(1)2(1)2(1) and the unit-cell parameters are a = 94.6, b = 141.0, c = 210.9 A. A single heavy-atom derivative has been synthesized by covalent modification of the product RNA with iodine.
Chase
Elaine
E
Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Golden
Barbara L
BL
D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D007438:Introns; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012326:RNA Splicing; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry*; D013204:Staphylococcus Phages / Q000235:genetics*
D017931:DNA Primers; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D012367:RNA, Viral