Identification of hammerhead ribozymes in all domains of life reveals novel structural variations.

ABSTRACT: Hammerhead ribozymes are small self-cleaving RNAs that promote strand scission by internal phosphoester transfer. Comparative sequence analysis was used to identify numerous additional representatives of this ribozyme class than were previously known, including the first representatives in fungi and archaea. Moreover, we have uncovered the first natural examples of "type II" hammerheads, and our findings reveal that this permuted form occurs in bacteria as frequently as type I and III architectures. We also identified a commonly occurring pseudoknot that forms a tertiary interaction critical for high-speed ribozyme activity. Genomic contexts of many hammerhead ribozymes indicate that they perform biological functions different from their known role in generating unit-length RNA transcripts

SUBMITTER: Perreault J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3088659 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature