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. 1989 Dec;86(23):9218–9222. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.23.9218

Alteration of substrate specificity for the endoribonucleolytic cleavage of RNA by the Tetrahymena ribozyme.

F L Murphy 1, T R Cech 1
PMCID: PMC298465  PMID: 2480597

Abstract

A shortened form of the intervening sequence of the self-splicing RNA from Tetrahymena thermophila catalyzes sequence-specific cleavage of RNA. Cleavage site selection involves a base-pairing interaction between the substrate RNA and a binding site within the intervening sequence. Single-base changes in this binding site were previously shown to alter substrate specificity in a predictable manner. To examine the generality with which substrate specificity can be altered, six variant catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) have been produced with two- or three-base changes in the active site. Each ribozyme cleaves its predicted substrate. The conditions required for good reactivity and for discrimination against cleavage at mismatched sites vary and were independently determined for each ribozyme.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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