Herschlag D, Cech T R
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309-0215.
Nature. 1990 Mar 29;344(6265):405-9. doi: 10.1038/344405a0.
An RNA enzyme derived from the self-splicing intervening sequence of Tetrahymena thermophila catalyses sequence-specific cleavage of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide substrate. Compared with RNA, the DNA substrate is bound very weakly and is cleaved very slowly, revealing the importance of the RNA 2'-hydroxyl group in both the binding and chemical steps. The finding that catalysis by RNA can extend to DNA substrates indicates new possibilities for the transposition of intervening sequences and for the design of DNA cleavage agents with novel sequence specificities.
一种源自嗜热四膜虫自我剪接间隔序列的RNA酶催化寡聚脱氧核糖核苷酸底物的序列特异性切割。与RNA相比，DNA底物结合非常弱，切割也非常缓慢，这揭示了RNA 2'-羟基在结合和化学步骤中的重要性。RNA催化可扩展至DNA底物这一发现，为间隔序列的转座以及设计具有新型序列特异性的DNA切割剂指明了新的可能性。
