The structure of a nucleolytic ribozyme that employs a catalytic metal ion

The TS ribozyme (originally called twister-sister) is a nucleolytic catalytic RNA. We present a crystal structure of the ribozyme in a pre-reactive conformation. Two co-axial helical stacks are organized by a three-way junction and two tertiary contacts. Five divalent metal ions are directly coordinated to RNA ligands, making important contributions to the RNA architecture. The scissile phosphate lies in a quasi-helical loop region that is organized by a network of hydrogen bonding. A divalent metal ion is directly bound to the nucleobase 5' to the scissile phosphate, with an inner-sphere water molecule positioned to interact with the O2' nucleophile. The rate of ribozyme cleavage correlated in a log-linear manner with divalent metal ion pK(a), consistent with proton transfer in the transition state, and we propose the bound metal ion is a likely general base for the cleavage reaction. Our data indicate that the TS ribozyme functions predominantly as a metalloenzyme.