Chapter category: RNA

Protein-Switched Ribozymes

This chapter appears in the following book:

Nucleic Acid Switches and Sensors

Edited by: Scott K. Silverman
ISBN: 0-387-37491-4
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Tan Inoue* and Yoshiya Ikawa

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Specific RNA-binding proteins regulate RNA conformations in protein-switched ribozymes. Ribozyme activity can be regulated with RNA-binding proteins, as in the case of natural RNP ribozymes like RNase P that consist of an RNA subunit and an RNA-binding protein. Recent studies have shown that both natural and artificial catalytic RNAs are convertible to allosterically regulated ribozymes by molecular design at the secondary structure or three-dimensional levels and also by performing selections from combinatorial libraries. In protein-switched ribozymes, the specific binding of a protein stabilizes a particular conformation of RNA in active or inactive form such that ribozyme activity is regulated by the presence or absence of the RNA-binding protein. In applications, a protein-regulated ribozyme can be utilized as a biosensor that detects the concentration of the binding proteins in vitro and in vivo. Further advances in the design and construction of protein-regulated ribozymes are expected because of rapid progress in structural biology. Future studies will also shed new light on the molecular evolution pathways of ribozymes.

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Chapter category: RNA

Protein-Switched Ribozymes

Additional chapters from this book:

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