MODIFIED BINARY HAMMERHEAD RIBOZYMES WITH HIGH CATALYTIC ACTIVITY

A series of binary hammerhead ribozymes was designed and assessed in terms of cleavage activity and nuclease resistance. Enhanced nuclease resistance of binary ribozymes was achieved by incorporation of 2′-modified nucleotides at the selective positions along with addition of 3′-3′-linked thymidine cap. These modified binary ribozymes efficiently cleave 190-nucleotides long MDR1 mRNA fragment and display catalytic activity much higher then respective full-length analogs.