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Updated: Oct 29, 2025

In Vitro Directed Evolution of a Restriction Endonuclease with More Stringent Specificity
Published on: March 25, 2020
Selection of a self-cleaving ribozyme activated in a chemically and thermally denaturing environment
Lingzi Ma1, Zhicheng Huang1, Juewen Liu1
1Department of Chemistry, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. liujw@uwaterloo.ca.
Abstract:
A new self-cleaving ribozyme was obtained from in vitro selection, displaying site-specific cleavage activity under denaturing conditions, such as high temperatures up to 95 °C, and denaturing solvents (20 M formamide). Adding salt such as Mg2+ also inhibited its activity. The conserved ribozyme sequence was found in the genome of several extremophiles, suggesting its potential biological relevance. This study provides an example of a ribozyme working under exotic conditions, which may expand the application of ribozymes in non-biological environments.
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