External Transesterification of Ribonucleotide Esters Naturally Catalyzed by Large Ribozymes

The intriguing chemical mechanism of the external transesterification by which large ribozymes (group I, group II, and spliceosomal introns) splice RNA has been found to operate in the methanolysis of ribonucleoside 2‘-/3‘-dimethyl phosphates in non-hydrogen-bonding organic solvents. Besides needing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Chemical Society 1999-12, Vol.121 (49), p.11267-11272
Main Authors: Roussev, Christo D, Ivanova, Gabriela D, Bratovanova, Emilia K, Vassilev, Nikolay G, Petkov, Dimiter D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ribonucleotide esters
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Summary:The intriguing chemical mechanism of the external transesterification by which large ribozymes (group I, group II, and spliceosomal introns) splice RNA has been found to operate in the methanolysis of ribonucleoside 2‘-/3‘-dimethyl phosphates in non-hydrogen-bonding organic solvents. Besides needing aprotic organic media this mechanism requires a high concentration of the attacking alcohol accounting for the binding of an external guanosine by group I introns and the use of a non-adjacent internal 2‘-OH by group II and spliceosomal introns. This finding is the first example of an external non-ribozymic transesterification of ribonucleotide esters and the means by which this crucial biochemical reaction can be accelerated.
ISSN:0002-7863
1520-5126
DOI:10.1021/ja990491r