Artificial Nucleases

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XVI

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2. Introduction

   • Valentin V. Vlassov, Marina A. Zenkova

   Pages 1-2

3. DNA Hydrolysis: Mechanism and Reactivity

   • N. H. Williams

   Pages 3-17

4. Active Site of Ribonuclease A

   • R. T. Raines

   Pages 19-32

5. Structural Considerations Concerning Cleavage of RNA

   • R. Kierzek

   Pages 33-48

6. Cleavage of RNA by Imidazole

   • V. V. Vlassov, A. V. Vlassov

   Pages 49-60

7. Principles of Nucleic Acid Cleavage by Metal Ions

   • A. Dallas, A. V. Vlassov, S. A. Kazakov

   Pages 61-88

8. Allosterically Controlled Ribozymes as Artificial Ribonucleases

   • M. Iyo, H. Kawasaki, M. Miyagishi, K. Taira

   Pages 89-109

9. Small Ribonuclease Mimics

   • I. L. Kuznetsova, V. N. Sil’nikov

   Pages 111-128

10. Copper Containing Nuclease Mimics: Synthetic Models and Biochemical Applications

    • S. Verma, S. G. Srivatsan, C. Madhavaiah

    Pages 129-150

11. RNA-Cleaving Oligonucleotide-Peptide Conjugates

    • N. L. Mironova, D. V. Pyshnyi, E. M. Ivanova

    Pages 151-172

12. Sequence Selective Artificial Ribonucleases Employing Metal Ions As Scissors

    • A. Kuzuya, R. Mizoguchi, M. Komiyama

    Pages 173-187

13. Site-Specific Artificial Ribonucleases: Conjugates of Oligonucleotides with Catalytic Groups

    • M. A. Zenkova, N. G. Beloglazova

    Pages 189-221

14. DNA and RNA Cleavage Mediated by Phenanthroline-Cuprous Oligonucleotides: From Properties to Applications

    • J.-C. Francois, M. Faria, D. Perrin, C. Giovannangeli

    Pages 223-242

15. Sequence-Specific Cleavage of Double-Stranded DNA

    • A. S. Boutorine, P. B. Arimondo

    Pages 243-268

16. Bleomycin-Oligonucleotide Conjugates as Site-Specific Nucleases

    • P. E. Vorobjev, V. F. Zarytova

    Pages 269-287

17. Back Matter

    Pages 289-292

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The development of agents capable of cleaving RNA and DNA has attracted considerable attention from researchers in the last few years, because of the immediate and very important applications they can find in the emerging fields of biotechnology and pharmacology. There are essentially two classes of these agents - nucleases that occur naturally inside cells and synthetically produced artificial nucleases. The first class includes protein enzyme nucle­ ases and catalytic RNA structured ribozymes that perform cleavage of the phosphodiester bonds in nucleic acids according to a hydrolytic pathway in the course of different biochemical processes in the cell. A different pathway is used by some antibiotics which cleave DNA via redox-based mechanisms resulting in oxidative damage of nucleotide units and breakage of the DNA backbone. The above molecules are indispensable tools for manipulating nucleic acids and processing RNA; DNA-cleaving antibiotics and cytotoxic ribonucleases have demonstrated utility as chemotherapeutic agents. The second class, artificial nucleases, are rationally designed to imitate the active centers of natural enzymes by simple structures possessing minimal sets of the most important characteristics that are essential for catalysis. A dif­ ferent approach, in vitro selection, was also used to create artificial RNA and DNA enzymes capable of cleaving RNA. Being less efficient and specific as compared to the natural enzymes, the primitive mimics are smaller and robust and can function in a broad range of conditions.

• Catalysis
• Cleavage
• Conjugates
• DNA
• Enzyme mimics
• Nucleotide
• RNA
• biotechnology
• enzymes
• biochemical engineering

• Novosibirsk Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Novosibirsk, Russia

  Marina A. Zenkova

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