Secondary structure content of the HDV ribozyme in 95% formamide

The Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) ribozyme self-cleaving activity in 20 M formamide solutions is unique, Does this catalytic activity result from the conservation of its tertiary structure in 20 M formamide? We followed the ribozyme structure in formamide solutions by monitoring the amount of bound Ethidium Bromide (EB); We were able to measure the quantity of dye bound using time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy,as an estimate of the ribozyme double helical content. This method, calibrated by using oligonucleotides with defined tertiary structure and denaturing solvents, parallels NMR and UV measurements as a function of temperature, Measurements with the HDV ribozyme lead to three conclusions: (a) both the precursor and product RNAs are structured to 24 M (95% w/w) formamide or 4 M H2O solutions which is equivalent to 4 M H2O; (b) the HDV ribozyme is the only RNA sequence investigated in this study that retains so much structure in formamide; and (c) DNA analogs of formamide resistant HDV ribozyme sequences lose their structure at less than 15 M formamide. Thus, the structural integrity of the HDV ribozyme is an intrinsic property of the RNA molecule and its sequence.