Abstract
Cyclization/cleavage of the 2-(p-nitrophenyl) phosphate ester of propylene glycol is catalyzed by imidazole and, much more effectively, by Zn2+ with imidazole. In the latter case, the mechanism involves simultaneous Lewis acid/base catalysis. Similar Zn2+ and imidazole catalysis of cyclization/cleavage is seen with the dinucleotide 3',5'-UpU (uridylyluridine). Again, the zinc system is much more effective than is catalysis by imidazole alone, and in this case simultaneous Lewis acid/base catalysis substitutes for the sequential proton acid/base catalysis seen with polynucleotides or dinucleotides and imidazole buffer catalysts. A mechanism is proposed for catalysis of RNA cleavage by the enzyme ribonuclease A, and the relationship of that mechanism to the action of the enzyme model systems is discussed.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Corcoran R., Labelle M., Czarnik A. W., Breslow R. An assay to determine the kinetics of RNA cleavage. Anal Biochem. 1985 Feb 1;144(2):563–568. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(85)90154-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Eichhorn G. L., Tarien E., Butzow J. J. Interaction of metal ions with nucleic acids and related compounds. XVI. Specific cleavage effects in the depolymerization of ribonucleic acids by zinc(II) ions. Biochemistry. 1971 May 25;10(11):2014–2019. doi: 10.1021/bi00787a008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]