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Abstract

An iterative in vitro selection procedure was used to isolate a new class of catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) from a large pool of random-sequence RNA molecules. These ribozymes ligate two RNA molecules that are aligned on a template by catalyzing the attack of a 3′-hydroxyl on an adjacent 5′-triphosphate—a reaction similar to that employed by the familiar protein enzymes that synthesize RNA. The corresponding uncatalyzed reaction also yields a 3′,5′-phosphodiester bond. In vitro evolution of the population of new ribozymes led to improvement of the average ligation activity and the emergence of ribozymes with reaction rates 7 million times faster than the uncatalyzed reaction rate.

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Published In

Science
Volume 261 | Issue 5127
10 September 1993

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Published in print: 10 September 1993

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David P. Bartel
Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114.
Jack W. Szostak
Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114.

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