Thiolated uridine substrates and templates improve the rate and fidelity of ribozyme-catalyzed RNA copying†
Abstract
Ribozyme-catalyzed RNA polymerization is inefficient and error prone. Here we demonstrate that two alternative bases, 2-thio-uridine (s2U) and 2-thio-ribo-thymidine (s2T), improve the rate and fidelity of ribozyme catalyzed nucleotide addition as NTP substrates and as template bases. We also demonstrate the functionality of s2U and s2T-containing ribozymes.