The pH dependence of hairpin ribozyme catalysis reflects ionization of an active site adenine

Abstract

Understanding how self-cleaving ribozymes mediate catalysis is crucial in light of compelling evidence that human and bacterial gene expression can be regulated through RNA self-cleavage. The hairpin ribozyme catalyzes reversible phosphodiester bond cleavage through a mechanism that does not require divalent metal cations. Previous structural and biochemical evidence implicated the amidine group of an active site adenosine, A38, in a pH-dependent step in catalysis.Wedeveloped a way to determine microscopic pKa values in active ribozymes based on the pH-dependent fluorescence of 8-azaadenosine (8azaA). We compared the microscopic pKa for ionization of 8azaA at position 38 with the apparent pKa for the self-cleavage reaction in a fully functional hairpin ribozyme with a unique 8azaA at position 38. Microscopic and apparent pKa values were virtually the same, evidence that A38 protonation accounts for the decrease in catalytic activity with decreasing pH. These results implicate the neutral unprotonated form of A38 in a transition state that involves formation of the 5′-oxygen-phosphorus bond. © 2011 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.