Ribozyme mediated destruction of RNA in vivo.

Previous studies have demonstrated that high ribozyme to substrate ratios are required for ribozyme inhibitory function in nuclear extracts. To obtain high intracellular levels of ribozymes, tRNA genes, known to be highly expressed in most tissues, have been modified for use as ribozyme expression cassettes. Ribozyme coding sequences were placed between the A and the B box, internal promoter sequences of a Xenopus tRNAMet gene. When injected into the nucleus of frog oocytes, the ribozyme tRNA gene (ribtDNA) produces 'hammerhead' ribozymes which cleave the 5' sequences of U7snRNA, its target substrate, with high efficiency in vitro. Oocytes were coinjected with ribtDNA, U7snRNA and control substrate RNA devoid of a cleavage sequence. It was found that the ribtRNA remained localized mainly in the nucleus, whereas the substrate and the control RNA exited rapidly into the cytoplasm. However, sufficient ribtRNA migrated into the cytoplasm to cleave, and destroy, the U7snRNA. Thus, the action of targeted 'hammerhead' ribozymes in vivo is demonstrated.     

Activity identification of chimeric anti-caspase-3 mRNA hammerhead ribozyme in vitro and in vivo

To study the expression activity of various vectors containing anti-caspase-3 ribozyme cassettes in vivo, and to further study the role of caspas-3 in the apoptotic pathway, we constructed anti-caspase-3 hammerhead ribozyme embedded into the human snRNA U6, and detected the activity of the ribozyme in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile we compared it with the self-cleaving hammerhead ribozymes that we previously studied, and with the general ribozyme, cloned into RNA polymerase II expression systems. The results showed that the three ribozymes, p1.5RZ107, pRZ107 and pU6RZ107 had the correct structure, and that they could cleave cas-pase-3 mRNA exactly to produce two fragments: 143nt/553nt. p1.5RZ107 has the highest cleavage efficiency in vitro, almost 80%. However, the U6 chimeric ribozyme, pU6RZ107, has the highest cleavage activity in vivo, almost to 65%, though it has lower cleavage activity in vitro. The cleavage results demonstrated that the pU6RZ107, the U6 chimeric ribozyme, could more efficiently expre     

Ribozyme inhibition of alphavirus replication

A model system to examine the expression and antiviral activity of trans-acting ribozymes in mammalian cells has been developed and evaluated. Hairpin ribozymes were engineered to cleave a specific site, identified by a combinatorial activity-based selection method, within genomic and subgenomic RNA species of Sindbis virus. Transiently transfected cells expressed moderate levels of ribozyme (approximately 50,000 molecules/cell) with predominant nuclear localization and a short half-life (23 min). Stable cell lines expressed ribozymes at modest levels (approximately 2,000 molecules/cell). Ribozyme-mediated RNA cleavage activity was detected in cell extracts. Clonal cell lines were challenged with recombinant Sindbis virus, and viral replication was examined using plaque formation and green fluorescent protein assays. Significant inhibition of viral replication was observed in cells expressing the active antiviral ribozyme, and lower levels of inhibition in control cells expressing inactive or irrelevant ribozymes. These findings are consistent with a model in which inhibition of viral replication occurs via ribozyme cleavage of viral RNAs, suggesting that ribozymes may represent useful antiviral agents.     

A ribozyme selected from variants of U6 snRNA promotes 2',5'-branch formation

In vitro selection was used to sample SnRNA-related sequences for ribozyme activities, and several 2',5'-branch-forming ribozymes were isolated. One such ribozyme is highly dependent upon an 11-nt motif that contains a conserved U6 snRNA sequence (ACAGAGA-box) known to be important for pre-mRNA splicing. The ribozyme reaction is similar to the first step of splicing in that an internal 2'-hydroxyl of an unpaired adenosine attacks at the 5'-phosphate of a guanosine. It differs in that the leaving group is diphosphate rather than a 5' exon. The finding that lariat formation can be accomplished by a small RNA with sequences related to U6 snRNA indicates that the RNA available in the spliceosome may be involved in RNA-catalyzed branch formation.     

tRNA-包埋核酶在HepG2细胞中的抗HBV活性

已知 ｔ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 包埋核酶比裸露核酶在胎牛血清和 Ｈｅｐ Ｇ２ 细胞抽提液中有较高的稳定性 构建了 ｈ Ｃ Ｍ Ｖ 启动子驱动下的抗 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ（ａｄｒ 亚型）的 ｔ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 包埋核酶基因质粒,与携带 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ 基因的ｐ１２Ⅱ质粒共转染 Ｈｅｐ Ｇ２ 细胞,用 Ｇ４１８ 筛选抗性细胞 分析稳定表达细胞中的 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ, Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ 抗原合成和新生 Ｄ Ｎ Ａ 合成,表明ｔ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 包埋核酶比裸露核酶有较高的抑制 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ 活性．ｔ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 包埋核酶和裸露核酶分别使靶 Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 减少 ８２％ ～８７％ 和 ７５％ ～８１％ ,抗原减少 ７３％ ～８０％ 和７０％ ～７４％ 以及新生 Ｄ Ｎ Ａ 减少 ７４％ ～７６％ 和 ６７％ ～７１％ 结果指出,核酶,特别是 ｔ Ｒ Ｎ Ａ 包埋核酶,对 Ｈｅｐ Ｇ２ 细胞中 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ 表达和复制有明显抑制作用,可能作为 Ｈ Ｂ Ｖ 基因治疗的手段之一 