The roles of the conserved pyrimidine bases in hammerhead ribozyme catalysis: evidence for a magnesium ion-binding site

We report details of the synthesis and characterization of oligoribonucleotides containing 4-thiouridine or 2-pyrimidinone ribonucleoside (4HC). We have used these probes to examine the roles of the conserved pyrimidines in the central core of the hammerhead ribozyme. The effects on catalysis of singly-substituted hammerhead ribozyme and substrate strands were quantified in multiple-turnover reactions. Various effects were observed on kcat. and Km, with up to a 7-fold decrease and a 3-fold increase respectively. For substitutions with 4HC at positions 3 or 17, catalytic activity in single turnover reactions can be increased up to 8-fold equivalent to 40% of wild-type activity, by increasing the concentration of the Mg2+ cofactor, implying that these substitutions had a deleterious effect on Mg2+ binding. Calculations of the change in the apparent free energy of binding for variants at positions 3, 4 or 17 are each consistent with deletion of a single hydrogen-bond to an uncharged group in the ribozyme. The cytidine 5′ to the scissile phosphate had not previously been thought to play a direct role in catalysis, however, removal of the exocyclic amino group decreased kcat. 4-fold. Recently, the crystal structures of a hammerhead ribozyme bound to either a non-cleavable 2′-deoxy substrate strand or a ribo-substrate strand have been reported. The kinetic properties of the variants described here are consistent with several key interactions seen in the crystals, in particular they provide experimental support for the assignment of the proposed catalytically active magnesium ion-binding site.