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. 1999 Sep;5(9):1259–1267. doi: 10.1017/s1355838299990945

High-performance liquid chromatography purification of homogenous-length RNA produced by trans cleavage with a hammerhead ribozyme.

T P Shields 1, E Mollova 1, L Ste Marie 1, M R Hansen 1, A Pardi 1
PMCID: PMC1369848  PMID: 10496226

Abstract

An improved method is presented for the preparation of milligram quantities of homogenous-length RNAs suitable for nuclear magnetic resonance or X-ray crystallographic structural studies. Heterogeneous-length RNA transcripts are processed with a hammerhead ribozyme to yield homogenous-length products that are then readily purified by anion exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. This procedure eliminates the need for denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which is the most laborious step in the standard procedure for large-scale production of RNA by in vitro transcription. The hammerhead processing of the heterogeneous-length RNA transcripts also substantially improves the overall yield and purity of the desired RNA product.

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Selected References

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