Abstract
Group II introns are catalytic RNA molecules that require divalent metal ions for folding, substrate binding, and chemical catalysis. Metal ion binding sites in the group II core have now been elucidated by monitoring the site-specific RNA hydrolysis patterns of bound ions such as Tb3+ and Mg2+. Major sites are localized near active site elements such as domain 5 and its surrounding tertiary interaction partners. Numerous sites are also observed at intron substructures that are involved in binding and potentially activating the splice sites. These results highlight the locations of specific metal ions that are likely to play a role in ribozyme catalysis.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to C. Duarte, J. Swisher and O. Fedorova for helpful discussions, to Q. Liu for preparation of plasmids, and to the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, the Swiss National Science Foundation (fellowship to R.K.O.S.) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (A.V. and A.M.P.) for financial support.
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Sigel, R., Vaidya, A. & Pyle, A. Metal ion binding sites in a group II intron core. Nat Struct Mol Biol 7, 1111–1116 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/81958
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/81958
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