Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Shechner DM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3978776 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Shechner David M DM Grant Robert A RA Bagby Sarah C SC Koldobskaya Yelena Y Piccirilli Joseph A JA Bartel David P DP
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20091101 5957
Primordial organisms of the putative RNA world would have required polymerase ribozymes able to replicate RNA. Known ribozymes with polymerase activity best approximating that needed for RNA replication contain at their catalytic core the class I RNA ligase, an artificial ribozyme with a catalytic rate among the fastest of known ribozymes. Here we present the 3.0 angstrom crystal structure of this ligase. The architecture resembles a tripod, its three legs converging near the ligation junction. ...[more]