Enhancement of ribozyme catalytic activity by a contiguous oligodeoxynucleotide (facilitator) and by 2''-O-methylation.

RNA catalysts (ribozymes) designed to cleave sequences unique to viral RNA's might be developed as therapeutics. For this purpose, they would require high catalytic efficiency and resistance to nucleases. Reported here are two approaches that can be used in combination to improve these properties. First, catalytic efficiency can be improved by oligonucleotides (facilitators) that bind to the substrate contiguously with the 3'-end of the ribozyme. Second, 2'-O-methylation of flanking sequences of the ribozyme increases catalytic activity as well as resistance to nucleases. In combination with a facilitator oligodeoxynucleotide, the cleavage rate was increased 20 fold over that of the unmodified ribozyme.     

Stem kernels for RNA sequence analyses

Several computational methods based on stochastic context-free grammars have been developed for modeling and analyzing functional RNA sequences. These grammatical methods have succeeded in modeling typical secondary structures of RNA, and are used for structural alignment of RNA sequences. However, such stochastic models cannot sufficiently discriminate member sequences of an RNA family from nonmembers and hence detect noncoding RNA regions from genome sequences. A novel kernel function, stem kernel, for the discrimination and detection of functional RNA sequences using support vector machines (SVMs) is proposed. The stem kernel is a natural extension of the string kernel, specifically the all-subsequences kernel, and is tailored to measure the similarity of two RNA sequences from the viewpoint of secondary structures. The stem kernel examines all possible common base pairs and stem structures of arbitrary lengths, including pseudoknots between two RNA sequences, and calculates the inner product of common stem structure counts. An efficient algorithm is developed to calculate the stem kernels based on dynamic programming. The stem kernels are then applied to discriminate members of an RNA family from nonmembers using SVMs. The study indicates that the discrimination ability of the stem kernel is strong compared with conventional methods. Furthermore, the potential application of the stem kernel is demonstrated by the detection of remotely homologous RNA families in terms of secondary structures. This is because the string kernel is proven to work for the remote homology detection of protein sequences. These experimental results have convinced us to apply the stem kernel in order to find novel RNA families from genome sequences.     

Cleavage of Leishmania Mini-exon Sequence by Oligonucleotides Conjugated to a Dimidazole Construction

Abstract

RNA sequences derived from the Leishmania amazonensis mini-exon and pre-mini-exon sequences have been targeted with complementary oligonucleotides bearing a diimidazole construction mimicking active center of ribonuclease A. The conjugates were shown to cleave the target RNAs at specific positions.     

ACA‐specific RNA sequence recognition is acquired via the loop 2 region of MazF mRNA interferase

MazF is an mRNA interferase that cleaves mRNAs at a specific RNA sequence. MazF from E. coli (MazF‐ec) cleaves RNA at A and CA. To date, a large number of MazF homologs that cleave RNA at specific three‐ to seven‐base sequences have been identified from bacteria to archaea. MazF‐ec forms a dimer, in which the interface between the two subunits is known to be the RNA substrate‐binding site. Here, we investigated the role of the two loops in MazF‐ec, which are closely associated with the interface of the MazF‐ec dimer. We examined whether exchanging the loop regions of MazF‐ec with those from other MazF homologs, such as MazF from Myxococcus xanthus (MazF‐mx) and MazF from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MazF‐mt3), affects RNA cleavage specificity. We found that exchanging loop 2 of MazF‐ec with loop 2 regions from either MazF‐mx or MazF‐mt3 created a new cleavage sequence at (A/U)(A/U)AA and C in addition to the original cleavage site, A and CA, whereas exchanging loop 1 did not alter cleavage specificity. Intriguingly, exchange of loop 2 with 8 or 12 consecutive Gly residues also resulted in a new RNA cleavage site at (A/U)(A/U)AA and C. The present study suggests a method for expanding the RNA cleavage repertoire of mRNA interferases, which is crucial for potential use in the regulation of specific gene expression and for biotechnological applications. Proteins 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

UV cross-link mapping of the substrate-binding site of an RNase P ribozyme to a target mRNA sequence.

RNase P ribozyme cleaves an RNA helix that resembles the acceptor stem and T-stem structure of its natural ptRNA substrate. When covalently linked with a guide sequence, the ribozyme can function as a sequence-specific endonuclease and cleave any target RNA sequences that base pair with the guide sequence. Using a site-directed ultraviolet (UV) cross-linking approach, we have mapped the regions of the ribozyme that are in close proximity to a substrate that contains the mRNA sequence encoding thymidine kinase of human herpes simplex virus 1. Our data suggest that the cleavage site of the mRNA substrate is positioned at the same regions of the ribozyme that bind to the cleavage site of a ptRNA. The mRNA-binding domains include regions that interact with the acceptor stem and T-stem and in addition, regions that are unique and not in close contact with a ptRNA. Identification of the mRNA-binding site provides a foundation to study how RNase P ribozymes achieve their sequence specificity and facilitates the development of gene-targeting ribozymes.     

Analysis of RNA cleavage by RNA polymerases from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Deinococcus radiodurans</Emphasis>

RNA polymerase can both synthesize and cleave RNA. Both reactions occur at the same catalytic center containing two magnesium ions bound to three aspartic acid residues of the absolutely conserved NADFDGD motif of the RNA polymerase beta subunit. We have demonstrated that RNA polymerase from Deinococcus radiodurans possesses much higher rate of intrinsic RNA cleavage than RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli (the difference in the rates is about 15-fold at 20 degrees C). However, these RNA polymerases do not differ in the rates of RNA synthesis. Comparison of the RNA polymerase sequences adjacent to the NADFDGD motif reveals the only amino acid substitution in this region (Glu751 in D. radiodurans vs. Ala455 in E. coli), which is localized in the secondary enzyme channel and can potentially affect the rate of RNA cleavage. Introduction of the corresponding substitution in the E. coli RNA polymerase leads to a slight (about 2-3-fold) increase in the cleavage rate, but does not affect RNA synthesis. Thus, the difference in the RNA cleavage rates between E. coli and D. radiodurans RNA polymerases is likely determined by multiple amino acid substitutions, which do not affect the rate of RNA synthesis and are localized in several regions of the active center.     

RNase P核酶对人巨细胞病毒UL54基因mRNA体外切割作用

外部引导序列(EGSs)是mRNA靶序列互补并引导RNaseP切割的小RNA片段。我们设计与人巨细胞病毒HCMV(Human Cytomegalovirus)UL54基因mRNA序列互补的EGSs,将其与大肠杆菌来源RNaseP催化核心M1RNA构建成M1GS核酶。通过对UL54基因亚克降片转录产物体外切割研究,证实该核酶具备对UL54 mRNA片段的特异切割能力,可以发展成为一种抗病毒试剂。     

Identifying novel sequence variants of RNA 3D motifs

Predicting RNA 3D structure from sequence is a major challenge in biophysics. An important sub-goal is accurately identifying recurrent 3D motifs from RNA internal and hairpin loop sequences extracted from secondary structure (2D) diagrams. We have developed and validated new probabilistic models for 3D motif sequences based on hybrid Stochastic Context-Free Grammars and Markov Random Fields (SCFG/MRF). The SCFG/MRF models are constructed using atomic-resolution RNA 3D structures. To parameterize each model, we use all instances of each motif found in the RNA 3D Motif Atlas and annotations of pairwise nucleotide interactions generated by the FR3D software. Isostericity relations between non-Watson–Crick basepairs are used in scoring sequence variants. SCFG techniques model nested pairs and insertions, while MRF ideas handle crossing interactions and base triples. We use test sets of randomly-generated sequences to set acceptance and rejection thresholds for each motif group and thus control the false positive rate. Validation was carried out by comparing results for four motif groups to RMDetect. The software developed for sequence scoring (JAR3D) is structured to automatically incorporate new motifs as they accumulate in the RNA 3D Motif Atlas when new structures are solved and is available free for download.     

MoxT toxin of Bacillus anthracis exhibits sequence specific ribonuclease activity

MoxXT module of Bacillus anthracis encodes MoxX, a labile protein and MoxT, a ribonuclease. However, mechanism of cleavage of RNA by MoxT has not been explored till date. In the present study, we have demonstrated that MoxT is a sequence specific ribonuclease which recognizes UACAU sequence in ss RNA and cleaves between U and A. Moreover, cleavage of RNA requires 2′ OH group of first residue, i.e. U of UACAU RNA sequence. An interesting finding which makes it distinct from the other MazF family toxins was also observed, i.e. its ability to cleave RNA in DNA–RNA hybrid.     

对HCMV UL54 mRNA 片段特异性切割的M1GS构建

人巨细胞病毒是一种DNA病毒,在人群中一般呈亚临床感染和潜伏感染。为研究病毒基因沉默工具和抗病毒制剂,以人巨细胞病毒UL54基因mRNA序列设计互补的外部引导序列,共价结合到大肠杆菌来源RNaseP催化核心M1RNA上,从而构建成M1GS-T6核酶。通过对DNA聚合酶UL54基因亚克隆片段转录产物体外切割研究,证实该核酶具备对UL54mRNA片段的特异切割能力。     

脱氧核酶的研究进展

具有RNA裂解活性的DNA分子称为脱氧核酶。它是经过体外选择技术经多次筛选获得的。脱氧核酶在切割与其互补的RNA底物分子时具有极高的特异性和切割效率,有望成为新的RNA灭活工具。     

一个双价锤头型核酶在体外对两种不同植物病毒RNA的专一切割作用

根据锤头核酶模型,设计合成了一个以黄瓜花叶病毒（ＣＭＶ） 外壳蛋白（ＣＰ） 亚基因组ＲＮＡ 为底物的锤头型核酶（ＲＺＣ） 。在证明它能有效切割该底物后,再将这个核酶与一个能专一性切割烟草花叶病毒（ＴＭＶ） 移动蛋白（ ＭＰ） 亚基因组ＲＮＡ 的锤头型核酶（ＲＺ１） 相互串联构成了一个双价核酶（ＲＺ１Ｃ） 。体外结果表明,这个双价核酶能与相应的单价核酶ＲＺ１ 和ＲＺＣ 一样专一而有效地切割ＣＭＶＣＰ和ＴＭＶ ＭＰＲＮＡ。     

LabCaS: Labeling calpain substrate cleavage sites from amino acid sequence using conditional random fields

The calpain family of Ca²⁺‐dependent cysteine proteases plays a vital role in many important biological processes which is closely related with a variety of pathological states. Activated calpains selectively cleave relevant substrates at specific cleavage sites, yielding multiple fragments that can have different functions from the intact substrate protein. Until now, our knowledge about the calpain functions and their substrate cleavage mechanisms are limited because the experimental determination and validation on calpain binding are usually laborious and expensive. In this work, we aim to develop a new computational approach (LabCaS) for accurate prediction of the calpain substrate cleavage sites from amino acid sequences. To overcome the imbalance of negative and positive samples in the machine‐learning training which have been suffered by most of the former approaches when splitting sequences into short peptides, we designed a conditional random field algorithm that can label the potential cleavage sites directly from the entire sequences. By integrating the multiple amino acid features and those derived from sequences, LabCaS achieves an accurate recognition of the cleave sites for most calpain proteins. In a jackknife test on a set of 129 benchmark proteins, LabCaS generates an AUC score 0.862. The LabCaS program is freely available at: http://www.csbio.sjtu.edu.cn/bioinf/LabCaS . Proteins 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Selective cleavage of bcr-abl chimeric RNAs by a ribozyme targeted to non-contiguous sequences.

Conventionally designed ribozymes may be unable to cleave RNA at sites which are inaccessible due to secondary structure. In addition, it may also be difficult to specifically target a conventionally designed ribozyme to some chimeric RNA molecules. Novel approaches for ribozyme targeting were developed by using the L6 bcr-abl fusion RNA as a model. Using one approach, we successfully directed ribozyme nucleation to a site on the bcr-abl RNA that is distant from the GUA cleavage site. These ribozymes bound to the L6 substrate RNA via an anchor sequence that was complementary to bcr sequences. The anchor was necessary for efficient cleavage as the anchor minus ribozyme, a conventionally designed ribozyme, was inefficient at catalyzing cleavage at this same site. The effect of anchor sequences on catalytic rates was determined for two of these ribozymes. Ribozymes generated by a second approach were designed to cleave at a CUU site in proximity to the bcr-abl junction. Both approaches have led to the development of a series of ribozymes specific for both the L6 and K28 bcr-abl chimeric RNAs, but not normal abl or bcr RNAs. The specificity of the ribozyme correlated in part with the ability of the ribozyme to bind substrate as demonstrated by gel shift analyses. Secondary structure predictions for the RNA substrate support the experimental results and may prove useful as a theoretical basis for the design of ribozymes.     

Comparison of the specificities and catalytic activities of hammerhead ribozymes and DNA enzymes with respect to the cleavage of BCR-ABL chimeric L6 (b2a2) mRNA.

With the eventual goal of developing a treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), attempts have been made to design hammerhead ribozymes that can specifically cleave BCR-ABL fusion mRNA. In the case of L6 BCR-ABL fusion mRNA (b2a2 type; BCR exon 2 is fused to ABL exon 2), which has no effective cleavage sites for conventional hammerhead ribozymes near the BCR-ABL junction, it has proved very difficult to cleave the chimeric mRNA specifically. Several hammerhead ribozymes with relatively long junction-recognition sequences have poor substrate-specificity. Therefore, we explored the possibility of using newly selected DNA enzymes that can cleave RNA molecules with high activity to cleave L6 BCR-ABL fusion (b2a2) mRNA. In contrast to the results with the conventional ribozymes, the newly designed DNA enzymes, having higher flexibility for selection of cleavage sites, were able to cleave this chimeric RNA molecule specifically at sites close to the junction. Cleavage occurred only within the abnormal BCR-ABL mRNA, without any cleavage of the normal ABL or BCR mRNA. Thus, these chemically synthesized DNA enzymes seem to be potentially useful for application in vivo , especially for the treatment of CML, if we can develop exogenous delivery strategies.