Ribonuclease P: unity and diversity in a tRNA processing ribozyme.

来自 Semantic Scholar

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阅读量：

117

作者：

DN Frank，NR Pace

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摘要：

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is the endoribonuclease that generates the mature 5'-ends of tRNA by removal of the 5'-leader elements of precursor-tRNAs. This enzyme has been characterized from representatives of all three domains of life (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya) (1) as well as from mitochondria and chloroplasts. The cellular and mitochondrial RNase Ps are ribonucleoproteins, whereas the most extensively studied chloroplast RNase P (from spinach) is composed solely of protein. Remarkably, the RNA subunit of bacterial RNase P is catalytically active in vitro in the absence of the protein subunit (2). Although RNA-only activity has not been demonstrated for the archael, eucaryal, or mitochondrial RNAs, comparative sequence analysis has established that these RNAs are homologous (of common ancestry) to bacterial RNA. RNase P holoenzymes vary greatly in organizational complexity across the phylogenetic domains, primarily because of differences in the RNase P protein subunits: Mitochondrial, archaeal, and eucaryal holoenzymes contain larger, and perhaps more numerous, protein subunits than do the bacterial holoenzymes. However, that the nonbacterial RNase P RNAs retain significant structural similarity to their catalytically active bacterial counterparts indicates that the RNA remains the catalytic center of the enzyme.

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关键词：

RNA enzyme RNA structure metalloenzyme phylogenetic-comparative analysis

DOI：

10.1146/annurev.biochem.67.1.153

被引量：

859

年份：

1998