Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

One Rna Plays Three Roles To Provide Catalytic Activity To A Group I Intron Lacking An Endogenous Internal Guide Sequence, Nilesh Vaidya, Niles Lehman

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Catalytic RNA molecules possess simultaneously a genotype and a phenotype. However, a single RNA genotype has the potential to adopt two or perhaps more distinct phenotypes as a result of differential folding and/or catalytic activity. Such multifunctionality would be particularly significant if the phenotypes were functionally inter-related in a common biochemical pathway. Here, this phenomenon is demonstrated by the ability of the Azoarcus group I ribozyme to function when its canonical internal guide sequence (GUG) has been removed from the 5? end of the molecule, and added back exogenously in trans. The presence of GUG triplets in noncovalent fragments of …