Development of intelligent ribozyme and aptamer whose activities switch on in response to environment

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26650014
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Structural biochemistry
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Katahira Masato 京都大学, エネルギー理工学研究所, 教授 (70211844)
• Research Collaborator: NAGATA Takashi 京都大学, エネルギー理工学研究所, 准教授 (10415250) ; MASHIMA Tsukasa 京都大学, エネルギー理工学研究所, 助教 (20707426) ; YAMAOKI Yuudai 京都大学, エネルギー理工学研究所, 博士研究員 (00778095)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: RNA酵素 / カリウムイオン / Ｉｎ ｃｅｌｌ ＮＭＲ / 立体構造 / 4重鎖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Two subunits of ribozyme were joined to each end of rGGAGGAGGAGGA(R12). Under low potassium conditions, R12 takes on an extended structure and thus two subunits are located separately, resulting in no enzymatic activity. Under physiological potassium concentrations, R12 forms a compact quadruplex and thus two subunits are closely located, resulting in exertion of the enzymatic activity. By introducing the complementary strand to ribozyme, the ratio of the activity with/without potassium ions was drastically improved. We also succeeded to directly observe NMR signals of nucleic acids in human cells for the first time.

Free Research Field

構造生命科学