Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications

摘要

In their original form, eukaryotic messenger RNAs include both coding (exons) and noncoding segments (introns). Some organisms excise those introns via a ribonucleoprotein complex called the spliceosome, while in other organisms the introns act as RNA enzymes to splice themselves out. Such self-splicing molecules are called group Ⅱ intron ribozymes, and they require two magnesium ions to function. But precisely what role those ions play has been unclear. Recently, Alessandra Magistrato) and colleagues have reported a plausible reaction mechanism (10.1021/jacs.6b01363).