Tl. Beattie et al., A SECONDARY-STRUCTURE MODEL FOR THE SELF-CLEAVING REGION OF NEUROSPORA VS RNA, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 92(10), 1995, pp. 4686-4690
Neurospora VS RNA performs an RNA-mediated self-cleavage reaction whos
e products contain 2',3'-cyclic phosphate and 5'-hydroxyl termini. Thi
s reaction is similar to those of hammerhead, hairpin, and hepatitis d
elta virus ribozymes; however, VS RNA is not similar in sequence to th
ese other self-cleaving motifs. Here we propose a model for the second
ary structure of the self-cleaving region of VS RNA, supported by site
-directed mutagenesis and chemical modification structure probing data
, The secondary structure of VS RNA is distinct from those of the othe
r naturally occurring RNA self-cleaving domains. In addition to a uniq
ue secondary structure, several Mg-dependent interactions occur during
the folding of VS RNA into its active tertiary conformation.