The ubiquitous hammerhead ribozyme

The hammerhead ribozyme is a small catalytic RNA motif capable of endonucleolytic (self-) cleavage. It is composed of a catalytic core of conserved nucleotides flanked by three helices, two of which form essential tertiary interactions for fast self-scission under physiological conditions. Originall...

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Published inRNA (Cambridge) Vol. 18; no. 5; pp. 871 - 885
Main Authors Hammann, Christian, Luptak, Andrej, Perreault, Jonathan, de la Peña, Marcos
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 01.05.2012
Subjects
Genetic Variation
Genome
Human health and pathology
Infectious diseases
Life Sciences
Nucleic Acid Conformation
Nucleotide Motifs
Review
RNA, Catalytic
RNA, Catalytic - chemistry
RNA, Catalytic - genetics
RNA, Catalytic - metabolism
Sequence Homology
Tandem Repeat Sequences
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Summary:The hammerhead ribozyme is a small catalytic RNA motif capable of endonucleolytic (self-) cleavage. It is composed of a catalytic core of conserved nucleotides flanked by three helices, two of which form essential tertiary interactions for fast self-scission under physiological conditions. Originally discovered in subviral plant pathogens, its presence in several eukaryotic genomes has been reported since. More recently, this catalytic RNA motif has been shown to reside in a large number of genomes. We review the different approaches in discovering these new hammerhead ribozyme sequences and discuss possible biological functions of the genomic motifs.
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PMCID: PMC3334697
Present address: Ribogenetics@Biochemistry Laboratory, Jacobs University Bremen, 28759 Bremen, Germany.
ISSN:1355-8382
1469-9001
DOI:10.1261/rna.031401.111