Abstract
The hammerhead ribozyme was discovered as a self-cleaving RNA molecule in certain plant viroids and satellite RNAs (1). Shortly after its conserved features were defined (2,3), the hammerhead was shown to be able to act as a true enzyme, cleaving multiple substrates in a bimolecular reaction (4). The self-cleaving hammerhead can be divided in a number of ways into two, or even three, separate strands (4,5). The most useful form has almost all of the conserved nucleotides on the ribozyme strand, leaving minimal sequence requirements in the substrate strand. To be cleavable the substrate must possess the sequence 5′ UH (H is C, U, or A), where cleavage occurs to the 3′ side of H (6) (Fig. 1). This particular configuration has been the paradigm for hammerhead ribozyme design since 1988. Here we describe variations on this basic design, with the constant theme being to minimize the size of the ribozyme.
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Hendry, P., Lockett, T.J., McCall, M.J. (1998). Small Efficient Hammerhead Ribozymes. In: Scanlon, K.J. (eds) Therapeutic Applications of Ribozymes. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 11. Springer, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-477-1:1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-477-1:1
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