PROPERTIES OF AN IN-VITRO SELECTED PB2+ CLEAVAGE MOTIF

The addition of Pb2+ to a small RNA molecule consisting of an asymmetr ic internal loop of six nucleotides results in site-specific cleavage followed by hydrolysis of the 2',3'-cyclic phosphate intermediate [Pan , T., & Uhlenbeck, O. C. (1992) Nature 358, 560-563]. Here we show tha t the reaction is highly specific for Pb2+ and the cleavage rate incre ases exponentially with pH from 5.5 to 7.0, both in the presence and i n the absence of Mg2+. This suggests that the reaction mechanism invol ves Pb2+ hydroxide acting as a base. Several sequence variants of the RNA are found to be equally active in both steps of the reaction, sugg esting that they fold into a similar structure.