Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination

    RNA. 2008 Jun;14(6):993-1002. Epub 2008 Apr 22.

    Riboswitch effectors as protein enzyme cofactors.

    Cochrane JC, Strobel SA.

    Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.

    The recently identified glmS ribozyme revealed that RNA enzymes, like protein enzymes, are capable of using small molecules as catalytic cofactors to promote chemical reactions. Flavin mononucleotide (FMN), S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), adenosyl cobalamin (AdoCbl), and thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) are known ligands for RNA riboswitches in the control of gene expression, but are also catalytically powerful and ubiquitous cofactors in protein enzymes. If RNA, instead of just binding these molecules, could harness the chemical potential of the cofactor, it would significantly expand the enzymatic repertoire of ribozymes. Here we review the chemistry of AdoCbl, SAM, FMN, and TPP in protein enzymology and speculate on how these cofactors might have been used by ribozymes in the prebiotic RNA World or may still find application in modern biology.

    PMID: 18430893 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    PMCID: 2390802

    Supplemental Content

    Click here to read Click here to read Click here to read

    Patient drug information

    • Thiamine

      Thiamine is a vitamin used by the body to break down sugars in the diet. The medication helps correct nerve and heart problems that occur when a person's diet does not contain enough thiamine.