The hammerhead self-cleaving motif as a precursor to complex endonucleolytic ribozymes.

ABSTRACT: Connections between distinct catalytic RNA motifs through networks of mutations that retain catalytic function (neutral networks) were likely central to the evolution of biocatalysis. Despite suggestions that functional RNAs collectively form an interconnected web of neutral networks, little evidence has emerged to demonstrate the existence of such intersecting networks in naturally occurring RNAs. Here we show that neutral networks of two naturally occurring, seemingly unrelated endonucleolytic ribozymes, the hammerhead (HH) and hairpin (HP), intersect. Sequences at the intersection of these networks exhibit catalytic functions corresponding to both ribozymes by potentially populating both catalytic folds and enable a smooth crossover between the two. Small and structurally simple endonuc

SUBMITTER: DasGupta S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8370743 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature