INVENTING AND IMPROVING RIBOZYME FUNCTION - RATIONAL DESIGN VERSUS ITERATIVE SELECTION METHODS

Two major strategies for generating novel biological catalysts exist. One relies on our knowledge of biopolymer structure and function to ai d in the 'irrational design' of new enzymes. The other, often called ' irrational design', aims to generate new catalysts, in the absence of detailed physicochemical knowledge, by using selection methods to sear ch a library of molecules for functional variants. Both strategies hav e been applied, with considerable success, to the remodeling of existi ng ribozymes and the development of ribozymes with novel catalytic fun ction. The two strategies are by no means mutually exclusive, and are best applied in a complementary fashion to obtain ribozymes with the d esired catalytic properties.