Figure 2.

Reaction scheme of the trans hammerhead ribozyme cleavage and ligation reaction. R is the ribozyme strand, S is the substrate strand, and P1 and P2 are the 5' and 3' cleavage products, respectively. k_cleave is the cleavage rate constant, k_ligate is the ligation rate constant, k_off is the P1 dissociation rate constant, k_on is the P1 association rate constant. K_eq^int is the equilibrium constant for the cleavage-ligation step of the reaction, and K_diss is the equilibrium constant for dissociation of P1. The asterisks indicate the catalytically active forms of the cleaved and ligated complexes.