Metal Ions that Bind and Function in RNA Enzymes

This article was about metal ions that bind and function in natural and artificial RNA enzymes. Ribozymes are catalysts that are present in RNA molecules. Recent research has shown that many new catalytic RNA concepts seem to be deviations off of common themes. This has led researchers to believe that ribozymes have evolved. They probably evolved to satisfy specific RNA-essential biological niches. Due to its small structure, many people are led to believe that ribozymes may not carry out many functions; however, analyses at the lab have proven that RNA has the ability to function in carbon-carbon reactions and even tRNA aminoacylation. 
Four naturally occurring enzymes are the hammerhead, hairpin, hepatitis delta virus, and glmS metabolite sensing ribozyme. The full article, which is not available to RVCC, would have explained these four enzymes in detail regarding their fundamental structure, metal binding properties, and the fold and ion coordination of three artificial ribozymes developed to study the boundaries of RNA catalysis (the acceleration of a chemical reaction by a catalyst). The three ribozymes under study were the leadzyme, the flexizyme, and the Diels-Alder ribozyme. The experiment compared STRUCTURE TO FUNCTION (which is uber-important in biology) but, kept in mind the idea of ideal metal-ion coordination geometry that was obtained from surveys of high-resolution small molecular structures. A newly developing theme is that natural and artificial ribozymes which catalyze single-step reactions also usually possess a pre-formed active site. Multivalent ions aid in the active site formation for RNA, but can also provide Lewis acid functionality which is required for catalysis. When this metal ion bonding is not possible, ribozymes survive/adapt by ionizing their bases, or by recruiting cofactors that increase their chemical functionality.