Leadzyme

Leadzyme is a small ribozyme that was artificially made using "in vitro" selection techniques. Leadzyme is able to cleave RNA in the presence of lead [cite journal |author=Pan T, Uhlenbeck OC |title=In vitro selection of RNAs that undergo autolytic cleavage with Pb2+ |journal=Biochemistry |volume=31 |issue=16 |pages=3887–3895 |year=1992 |pmid=1373649 |doi=10.1021/bi00131a001 ] . The structure of leadzyme has been determined by X-ray crystallography [cite journal |author=Wedekind JE, McKay DB. |title=Crystal structure of the leadzyme at 1.8 A resolution: metal ion binding and the implications for catalytic mechanism and allo site ion regulation |journal=Biochemistry |volume=42 |issue=32 |pages=9554–9563 |year=2003 |pmid=12911297 |doi=10.1021/bi0300783 ] .

It has been proposed that a naturally occurring leadzyme occurs in the 5S rRNA and further that this may be an important mechanism in lead toxicity [cite journal |author=Barciszewska MZ, Wyszko E, Bald R, Erdmann VA, Barciszewski J. |title=5S rRNA is a leadzyme. A molecular basis for lead toxicity |journal=J. Biochemistry |volume=133 |issue=3 |pages=309–315 |year=2003 |pmid=12761166 |doi=10.1093/jb/mvg042 ] .

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