Metal Sites in Ribozymes

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Dr. Victoria DeRose of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program of the Division of Chemistry, National Science Foundation, for her work on investigating interactions between metal ions and RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the hammerhead ribozyme, a small catalytic RNA, using spectroscopic methods to probe ligands bound to manganese(II) and cadmium(II) positioned at specific sites in this ribozyme.These studies will further our understanding of the metal-dependent mechanism of catalysis of ribozymes, which are novel biocatalysts, and the contributions of metals to the structure and stability in complex RNA systems. Students and post-doctoral associates will be trained in an interdisciplinary area that encompasses inorganic, spectroscopic and biochemical disciplines.