Naghdi Mohammad Reza, Boutet Emilie, Mucha Clarisse, Ouellet Jonathan, Perreault Jonathan
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Centre Armand Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, 531 boul. des Prairies, Laval, QB H7V 1B7, Canada.
Department of Chemistry and Physics, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764, USA.
Noncoding RNA. 2020 Mar 20;6(1):14. doi: 10.3390/ncrna6010014.
Hammerhead ribozymes are one of the most studied classes of ribozymes so far, from both the structural and biochemical point of views. The activity of most hammerhead ribozymes is cation-dependent. Mg is one of the most abundant divalent cations in the cell and therefore plays a major role in cleavage activity for most hammerhead ribozymes. Besides Mg, cleavage can also occur in the presence of other cations such as Mn. The catalytic core of hammerhead ribozymes is highly conserved, which could contribute to a preference of hammerhead ribozymes toward certain cations. Here, we show a naturally occurring variation in the catalytic core of hammerhead ribozymes, A6C, that can favor one metallic ion, Mn, over several other cations.
从结构和生化角度来看，锤头状核酶是迄今为止研究最多的核酶类别之一。大多数锤头状核酶的活性依赖于阳离子。镁是细胞中最丰富的二价阳离子之一，因此在大多数锤头状核酶的切割活性中起主要作用。除了镁之外，在其他阳离子（如锰）存在的情况下也会发生切割。锤头状核酶的催化核心高度保守，这可能导致锤头状核酶对某些阳离子有偏好。在这里，我们展示了锤头状核酶催化核心中一种天然存在的变异，即A6C，它相比于其他几种阳离子，更倾向于一种金属离子——锰。
