Case Study Chemical Steps of Catalysis in Hairpin Ribozyme

Case Study Chemical Steps of Catalysis in Hairpin Ribozyme 

At first glance, it would seem that RNA enzymes, composed of fairly inert nucle-obases connected by a sugar-phosphate backbone, are simply not equipped with 

A number of factors have been implicated to be important for RNA catalysis, including the involvement of functional groups of the nucleobases or RNA backbone, divalent metal ions or other solvent components that might provide electrostatic 

In contrast, the hairpin ribozyme (HPR) [107, 108], which catalyzes the reversible, site-specific phosphodiester bond cleavage of an RNA substrate, is unique in that the chemical steps of the reaction do not require involvement of a divalent metal ion [107-111]. This lack of an explicit metal ion requirement [112] makes the hairpin ribozyme an ideal target for theoretical studies aimed to characterize the contribution of generalized solvation provided by the solvated ribozyme on catalysis. 

CA DFT correction on the TSp u is based on the error of AMl/d-PhoT model at the TSpti+Nu 1 n which the nucleophilic attack (TS ra) is concerted with the proton transfer (TS/ / ] ) in the gas phase. dUncatalyzed model reaction in solution. eCatalyzed reaction in the hairpin ribozyme. 

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