AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, July 7, 2003
Staff Medical Writers

"A quick identification of a cleavage site in the target RNA molecule to obtain sequence-specific cleavage by either catalytic RNA (ribozymes) or DNA (DNA enzymes) is very important for achieving gene-specific suppression," researchers in the United States explained. "These molecules could also provide important information on the secondary and tertiary structure of the target RNA molecule."

In their study, S. Chakraborti and colleagues at Colorado State University "exploited the use of two kinds of DNA enzymes, namely, the 10-23 and 8-17 catalytic motif containing DNA enzymes, to achieve these objectives."

"We identified several DNA enzyme cleavage sites in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transactivation response element (TAR) RNA - a structural feature present at the 5' end of all HIV-1 transcripts," they wrote in the journal Biomacromolecules. "Most of the DNA enzymes that cleaved the TAR RNA were targeted to the regions that were single-stranded in the predicted structure."

"Regions that were predicted to be base-paired (stem) failed to show any detectable cleavage," according to the report. "The DNA enzyme possessing the 8-17 catalytic motif was extremely efficient in cleaving full length, as well as short, HIV-1 specific transcripts."

"The efficiency of cleavage of the same target RNA by DNA enzymes that possessed the 10-23 catalytic motif was significantly less in comparison, and they failed to cleave the short transcripts," study data showed.

"These molecules, in principle, have the potential to downregulate expression of all HIV-1 transcripts from a wide range of isolates because this region is functionally very well conserved," the researchers concluded.

Chakraborti and colleagues published the results of their research in Biomacromolecules (Identification of cleavage sites in the HIV-1 TAR RNA by 10-23 and 8-17 catalytic motif containing DNA enzymes. Biomacromolecules. 2003 May-Jun;4(3):568-71.

For additional information, contact A.C. Banerjea, Colorado State University, Department of Pathology, 1619 Campus Delivery, Ft. Collins, CO 80523, USA.

The publisher of the journal Biomacromolecules can be contacted at: American Chemical Society, 1155 16th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS and HIV and RNA Research.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Chakraborti S, Banerjea AC. "Identification of Cleavage Sites in the HIV-1 TAR RNA by 10-23 and 8-17 Catalytic Motif Containing DNA Enzymes", Biomacromolecules. 2003 May-Jun;4(3):568-71.

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