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. 2002 Apr;8(4):464–477. doi: 10.1017/s1355838202020289

Delta ribozyme benefits from a good stability in vitro that becomes outstanding in vivo.

Dominique Lévesque 1, Sanaa Choufani 1, Jean-Pierre Perreault 1
PMCID: PMC1370269  PMID: 11991641

Abstract

The stability of a trans-acting delta ribozyme was studied under various conditions. Although in vitro (i.e., in the presence of protein extracts) this delta ribozyme appears to be only slightly more stable than a hammerhead ribozyme, in vivo (i.e., after cell transfection) it exhibits an outstanding stability that manifests itself in the calculated half-life of over 100 h regardless of the means of transfection. The P2 stem, which includes both the 5' and 3' ends, is shown to play a critical role in this stability. Direct mutagenesis of the most nuclease susceptible nucleotides failed to generate a more stable ribozyme that retained the same catalytic potential. Clearly, delta ribozyme appears to be well adapted to the human cell environment, and is therefore ideal for the development of a gene-inactivation system.

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Selected References

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