Characterization of hammerhead ribozyme reactions

Abstract

Hammerhead ribozymes are small catalytic RNA motifs ubiquitously present in a large variety of genomes. The reactions catalyzed by these motifs are both their self-scission and the reverse ligation reaction. Here, we describe methods for the generation of DNA templates for the subsequent in vitro transcription of hammerhead ribozymes. This is followed by a description of the preparation of suitable RNA molecules for both reaction types, and their kinetic analysis. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.