Global InformationHatchet ribozyme information
| Hatchet | |
|---|---|
 Consensus secondary structure and sequence conservation of Hatchet ribozyme | |
| Identifiers | |
| Symbol | Hatchet |
| Rfam | RF02678 |
| Other data | |
| RNA type | Gene; Ribozyme |
| GO | GO:0003824 |
| SO | SO:0000374 |
| PDB structures | PDBe |
Background: The hatchet ribozyme is an RNA structure that catalyzes its own cleavage at a specific site. In other words, it is a self-cleaving ribozyme. Hatchet ribozymes were discovered by a bioinformatics strategy [1] as RNAs Associated with Genes Associated with Twister and Hammerhead ribozymes, or RAGATH.
Subsequent biochemical analysis supports the conclusion of a ribozyme function, and determined further characteristics of the chemical reaction catalyzed by the ribozyme.[2]
Nucleolytic ribozymes are small RNAs that adopt compact folds capable of site-specific cleavage/ligation reactions. 14 unique nucleolytic ribozymes have been identified to date, including recently discovered twister, pistol, twister-sister, and hatchet ribozymes that were identified based on application of comparative sequence and structural algorithms.
The consensus sequence and secondary structure of this class includes 13 highly conserved and numerous other modestly conserved nucleotides inter-dispersed among bulges linking four base-paired substructures. A representative hatchet ribozyme requires divalent cations such as Mg2+ to promote RNA strand scission with a maximum rate constant of ~4/min. As with all other small self-cleaving ribozymes discovered to date, hatchet ribozymes employ a general mechanism for catalysis consisting of a nucleophilic attack of a ribose 2′-oxygen atom on the adjacent phosphorus center. Kinetic characteristics of the reaction demonstrate that members of this ribozyme class have an essential requirement for divalent metal cations and that they have a complex active site which employs multiple catalytic strategies to accelerate RNA cleavage by internal phosphoester transfer.[3]
- ^ Weinberg Z, Kim PB, Chen TH, Li S, Harris KA, Lünse CE, Breaker RR (2015). "New classes of self-cleaving ribozymes revealed by comparative genomics analysis". Nat. Chem. Biol. 11 (8): 606–10. doi:10.1038/nchembio.1846. PMC 4509812. PMID 26167874.
- ^ Li S, Lünse CE, Harris KA, Breaker RR (2015). "Biochemical analysis of hatchet self-cleaving ribozymes". RNA. 21 (11): 1845–51. doi:10.1261/rna.052522.115. PMC 4604424. PMID 26385510.
- ^ Li, Sanshu; Lünse, Christina E.; Harris, Kimberly A.; Breaker, Ronald R. (November 2015). "Biochemical analysis of hatchet self-cleaving ribozymes". RNA. 21 (11): 1845–1851. doi:10.1261/rna.052522.115. ISSN 1355-8382. PMC 4604424. PMID 26385510.