Kinetic and mutational studies of two RNA-interacting enzymes

Abstract

Cellular enzymes interact with RNA substrates at several key stages in an organism's life cycle, particularly during the processes of transcription and translation. A more detailed description of enzyme mechanistic features and kinetic parameters is important both for understanding molecular function in general and as possible therapeutic targets. The two classes of RNA-interacting enzymes investigated in the work described here are helicases, which disrupt RNA secondary structure, and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, which catalyze the attachment of an amino acid to its cognate tRNA.