RNA self-splicing by engineered hairpin ribozyme variants

Abstract Small RNAs capable of self-cleavage and ligation might have been the precursors for the much more complex self-splicing group I and II introns in an early RNA world. Here, we demonstrate the activity of engineered hairpin ribozyme variants, which as self-splicing introns are removed from th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nucleic acids research 2022-01, Vol.50 (1), p.368-377
Main Authors: Hieronymus, Robert, Zhu, Jikang, Müller, Sabine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Genetic Engineering - methods
Nucleic Acid Enzymes
RNA - chemistry
RNA Splicing
RNA, Catalytic - chemistry
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Summary:Abstract Small RNAs capable of self-cleavage and ligation might have been the precursors for the much more complex self-splicing group I and II introns in an early RNA world. Here, we demonstrate the activity of engineered hairpin ribozyme variants, which as self-splicing introns are removed from their parent RNA. In the process, two cleavage reactions are supported at the two intron-exon junctions, followed by ligation of the two generated exon fragments. As a result, the hairpin ribozyme, here acting as the self-splicing intron, is cut out. Two self-splicing hairpin ribozyme variants were investigated, one designed by hand, the other by a computer-aided approach. Both variants perform self-splicing, generating a cut-out intron and ligated exons.
ISSN:0305-1048
1362-4962
DOI:10.1093/nar/gkab1239