CHEMICAL BASIS OF GROUP II INTRON FUNCTION

人们对RNA结构的兴趣与日俱增，是因为发现了 可折叠形成催化活性部位的催化RNA分子 化学反应。第二组内含子是自剪接的RNA， 配备了在两种情况下执行两步酯交换反应的设备 正向和反向。内含子的反向剪接 发生在DNA或RNA底物中。在内含子的帮助下 编码的成熟酶，组II内含子特定地插入自己 转化成双链DNA。鉴定RNA的结构是很有意义的 反向剪接成DNA所需的元件。核苷酸类似物 干扰定位(NAIM)是一种新的化学遗传学方法 对RNA结构进行生物化学表征。在开发了一种 反向剪接实验，奈姆将被用来理解化学物质 第二组内含子结构和功能的基础。互动 使用NAIM鉴定将增加对第二组内含子的理解 原子水平上的结构和三级接触。关于群体的研究 II内含子剪接将产生对前mRNA剪接的大量见解， 因为这两个过程是相似的。高分辨率的细节 在反向剪接过程中II族内含子的结构可能允许 可用于遗传研究的新型位点特异性载体的开发 治疗癌症和病毒感染的药物。

The growing interest in RNA structure has stemmed from the discovery of catalytic RNA molecules that can fold to form active sites for catalysis of chemical reactions. Group II introns are self-splicing RNAs that are equipped to perform the two step transesterification reaction in both the forward and reverse directions. Reverse splicing by the intron can occur into a DNA or RNA substrate. With the assistance of an intron encoded maturase, the group II intron site-specifically inserts itself into duplex DNA. It is of interest to identify the RNA structural elements required for reverse splicing into DNA. Nucleotide Analog Interference Mapping (NAIM) is a novel chemogenetic approach to biochemically characterize RNA structure. After development of a reverse splicing assay, NAIM will be utilized to understand the chemical basis of group II intron structure and function. The interactions identified using NAIM will increase the understanding of group II intron structure and tertiary contacts at the atomic level. The study of group II intron splicing will yield numerous insights into pre-mRNA splicing, since these two processes are similar. High resolution details of the structure of the group II intron during reverse splicing may allow for development of novel site specific vectors that can be used as genetic agents for the treatment of cancer and viral infections.