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. 1991 Mar 25;19(6):1285–1289. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.6.1285

Antigenomic Hepatitis delta virus ribozymes self-cleave in 18 M formamide.

J B Smith 1, G Dinter-Gottlieb 1
PMCID: PMC333855  PMID: 1709487

Abstract

The ribozymes derived from Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) RNA appear unique in their sequence requirements for self-cleavage. While truncating the 1679 nucleotide antigenomic HDV RNA, we have characterized the cleavage requirements of a number of ribozymes of intermediate length. Two of these, containing 186 and 106 HDV nucleotides respectively, cleaved to completion in the presence of 18 M formamide. The 186 nucleotide ribozyme also cleaved to completion in 10 M urea. Removal of an additional 10 nts from the 3' terminus of the 106 nt ribozyme resulted in a loss of the ability to cleave in high concentrations of the denaturants. The interaction of nucleotides near the cleavage site with a sequence within this 10 base region may confer unusual stability on these ribozymes.

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Selected References

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