Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

When to believe what you see.

Jennifer A Nelson¹, Olke C Uhlenbeck

¹Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, 2205 Tech Drive, Hogan 2-100, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.

|August 19, 2006

Summary

A new X-ray crystal structure reveals a distinct catalytic core in the Schistosoma mansoni hammerhead ribozyme. This finding reconciles structural and biochemical data, highlighting RNA dynamics.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Avança Saúde SP: driving the digital transformation of primary healthcare in São Paulo.

Oxford open digital health·2025

Same author

Perceived Limitations of Walking in Individuals With Cerebral Palsy.

Physical therapy·2021

Same author

An <i>operando</i> spatially resolved study of alkaline battery discharge using a novel hyperspectral detector and X-ray tomography.

Journal of applied crystallography·2020

Same author

Clinician preferences for computerised clinical decision support for medications in primary care: a focus group study.

BMJ health & care informatics·2019

Same author

Thomas A. Steitz (1940-2018).

RNA (New York, N.Y.)·2018

Same author

Evolutionary tuning impacts the design of bacterial tRNAs for the incorporation of unnatural amino acids by ribosomes.

Current opinion in chemical biology·2018

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Structural Biology
Molecular Biology

Background:

Hammerhead ribozymes are crucial RNA enzymes involved in various biological processes.
Previous structural studies of minimal hammerhead ribozymes presented discrepancies with biochemical data.
The role of peripheral domains in hammerhead ribozyme structure and function remained incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine the X-ray crystal structure of a hammerhead ribozyme from Schistosoma mansoni, including its rate-enhancing peripheral domain.
To compare this new structure with the previously determined structure of a minimal hammerhead ribozyme.
To reconcile structural findings with existing biochemical data on hammerhead ribozyme cleavage properties.

Main Methods:

X-ray crystallography was employed to determine the three-dimensional structure of the hammerhead ribozyme.
Comparative analysis was performed between the new structure and the minimal hammerhead ribozyme structure.
Biochemical data on chemically modified hammerheads were integrated for reconciliation.

Main Results:

The catalytic core of the Schistosoma mansoni hammerhead ribozyme with the peripheral domain is significantly different from that of the minimal hammerhead ribozyme.
The new structure successfully reconciles previously observed disagreements between minimal hammerhead structure and biochemical cleavage data.
The findings underscore the dynamic nature of small RNA domains.

Conclusions:

The structure of hammerhead ribozymes is influenced by the presence of peripheral domains.
Structural data, when interpreted without considering RNA dynamics, can lead to functional misinterpretations.
This study provides a cautionary example for structure-function relationship studies in RNA biology.

Related Experiment Videos