The pH dependence of hairpin ribozyme catalysis reflects ionization of an active site adenine.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how self-cleaving ribozymes mediate catalysis is crucial in light of compelling evidence that human and bacterial gene expression can be regulated through RNA self-cleavage. The hairpin ribozyme catalyzes reversible phosphodiester bond cleavage through a mechanism that does not require divalent metal cations. Previous structural and biochemical evidence implicated the amidine group of an active site adenosine, A38, in a pH-dependent step in catalysis. We developed a way to determine microscopic pK(a) values in active ribozymes based on the pH-dependent fluorescence of 8-azaadenosine (8azaA). We compared the microscopic pK(a) for ionization of 8azaA at position 38 with the apparent pK(a) for the self-cleavage reaction in a fully functional hairpin ribozyme with a unique 8azaA

SUBMITTER: Cottrell JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3093841 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature