Structure and function of regulatory RNA elements: ribozymes that regulate gene expression. Biochim Biophys Acta 2009;1789(9-10):634-41
Date
09/29/2009Pubmed ID
19781673DOI
10.1016/j.bbagrm.2009.09.006Scopus ID
2-s2.0-71849111461 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 29 CitationsAbstract
Since their discovery in the 1980s, it has gradually become apparent that there are several functional classes of naturally occurring ribozymes. These include ribozymes that mediate RNA splicing (the Group I and Group II introns, and possibly the RNA components of the spliceosome), RNA processing ribozymes (RNase P, which cleaves precursor tRNAs and other structural RNA precursors), the peptidyl transferase center of the ribosome, and small, self-cleaving genomic ribozymes (including the hammerhead, hairpin, HDV and VS ribozymes). The most recently discovered functional class of ribozymes include those that are embedded in the untranslated regions of mature mRNAs that regulate the gene's translational expression. These include the prokaryotic glmS ribozyme, a bacterial riboswitch, and a variant of the hammerhead ribozyme, which has been found embedded in mammalian mRNAs. With the discovery of a mammalian riboswitch ribozyme, the question of how an embedded hammerhead ribozyme's switching mechanism works becomes a compelling question. Recent structural results suggest several possibilities.
Author List
Scott WG, Martick M, Chi YIAuthor
Young-In Chi PhD Assistant Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnimalsBase Sequence
Gene Expression Regulation
Humans
Ligases
Models, Chemical
Models, Molecular
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleic Acid Conformation
RNA
RNA, Catalytic
Regulatory Elements, Transcriptional
Ribosomes
Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
