Application



This page shows some of the applications of the collected ribozymes. We listed three kinds of applications, ‘Gene Expression System’, ‘Detection System’, and ‘Gene Editing System’ as shown in the following table. Two specific examples are also presented, as shown in the figures below.

Twister

To establish RNA aptamers with high stability and expression levels, Jaffrey’s group designed the Tornado (twister-optimized RNA for durable overexpression) expression system for rapid RNA circularization. They use a P3 twister U2A ribozyme and a P1 twister ribozyme to generate RNAs of interest containing a 5’ hydroxyl and 2’,3’-cyclic phosphate. Then the 5’ and 3’ ends would become substrates for RtcB-mediated ligation.Finally, the RNAs of interest would be circularized.

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HDV

Schematic diagram for simple and effective generating in vitro transcripts with homogenous 5’ ends and 3’ ends. As show in this diagram, we use hammerhead and HDV ribozymes to produce homogenous RNA with any 5’- and 3’- terminal sequence.

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Gene Expression system

Several ribozymes have been used for gene expression regulation. For instance, twister ribozyme can be engineered to the Tornado (‘Twister-optimized RNA for durable overexpression’) expression system for efficient expression of circular RNA. The hammerhead ribozyme was used to digest viral, oncogene or mutant mRNA. Other self-cleaving ribozymes have been designed to regulate gene expression in a ligand-dependent way.

Ribozyme applications
ribozyme name Description First author Corresponding author Time reference Journal pubmed ID
twister ribozyme This article established an outstandingly flexible expression platform, which in conjugation with three different aptamer domains, enables the construction of many different one- and two-input regulators of gene expression in both bacteria and yeast. Felletti, M J. S. Hartig 2016 Twister ribozymes as highly versatile expression platforms for artificial riboswitches Nat Commun 27670347
twister ribozyme This article established the Tornado (‘Twister-optimized RNA for durable overexpression’) expression system for rapid RNA circularization, resulting in RNA aptamers with high stability and expression levels. Litke, J. L S. R. Jaffrey 2019 Highly efficient expression of circular RNA aptamers in cells using autocatalytic transcripts Nat Biotechnol 30962542
pistol ribozyme This article investigated circularly permuted variants of the pistol ribozyme class (CPP) as a synthetic ribozyme scaffold for mammalian riboswitch, which allows chemical regulation of gene expression in mammalian cells. Mustafina, K Y. Yokobayashi 2021 Circularly-Permuted Pistol Ribozyme: A Synthetic Ribozyme Scaffold for Mammalian Riboswitches ACS Synth Biol 34374523
HDV ribozyme This article used Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme for preparation of homogeneous RNA with any 3′-terminal sequence. A R Ferré-D'Amaré J A Doudna 1996 Use of cis- and trans-ribozymes to remove 5' and 3' heterogeneities from milligrams of in vitro transcribed RNA Nucleic Acids Res 8600468
HDV ribozyme This article designed a small molecule responsive allosteric ribozymes based on the genomic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme by replacing the P4-L4 stem-loop with an RNA aptamer through a connector stem,which can regulate cis-gene expression by theophylline and guanine by up to 29.5-fold in mammalian cell culture. Nomura, Y Y. Yokobayashi 2013 Controlling mammalian gene expression by allosteric hepatitis delta virus ribozymes ACS Synthetic Biology 23697539
HDV ribozyme This article used HDV ribozyme as cis-cleaving autocatalytic cassettes attached to transcript 3' ends to generate homogenous 3' ends. Wichlacz, A J. Ciesiolka 2004 Generating in vitro transcripts with homogenous 3' ends using trans-acting antigenomic delta ribozyme Nucleic Acids Res 14973333
HDV ribozyme This article designed a RNAi-regulatory system integrating a theophylline aptamer-fused Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme with a pri-miRNA analogue to control gene expression mediated by RNAi.The system can control gene expression by adding theophylline into the culture media in dose dependent fashion. Zhang, Y R. Pei 2017 Inducible Bcl-2 gene RNA interference mediated by aptamer-integrated HDV ribozyme switch Integrative Biology 28548675
HDV ribozyme This article designed an alternatively processed short hairpin RNA (shRNA) molecule termed AgoshRNA with the HDV ribozyme at the 3' terminus to enhance the silencing activity of the AgoshRNA molecules. Berkhout, B E. Herrera-Carrillo 2021 Design and Evaluation of AgoshRNAs with 3'-Terminal HDV Ribozymes to Enhance the Silencing Activity Methods in Molecular Biology 32712923
VS ribozyme This paper describes an innovative approach for RNA engineering and establishes that the KLI of the trans VS ribozyme can be adapted to cleave other folded RNA substrates. Lacroix-Labonte, J P. Legault 2016 Rational engineering of the Neurospora VS ribozyme to allow substrate recognition via different kissing-loop interactions Nucleic Acids Res 27166370
LC ribozyme Lariat capping ribozyme functions in vivo in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae presumably without cofactors and that lariat capping occurs cotranscriptionally. Krogh, N H. Nielsen 2017 Lariat capping as a tool to manipulate the 5' end of individual yeast mRNA species in vivo RNA 28159804
LC ribozyme Lariat capping is thus a versatile tool for studying the importance of the 5' end structure of RNA molecules. Pietschmann, M H. Nielsen 2021 Use of a Lariat Capping Ribozyme to Study Cap Function In Vivo Methods Mol Biol 32712925
RNase P A sequence-specific ribozyme (M1GS RNA) derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of RNase P from Escherichia coli was used to target the overlapping exon 3 region of the mRNAs encoding the major transcription regulatory proteins IE1 and IE2 of human cytomegalovirus. This study is the first to use M1GS ribozyme for inhibiting human cytomegalovirus replication and demonstrates the utility of this ribozyme for antiviral applications. Trang, P F. Liu 2000 Effective inhibition of human cytomegalovirus gene expression and replication by a ribozyme derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of RNase P from Escherichia coli Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 10811889
hammerhead ribozyme Incorporating a hammerhead ribozyme on the 5′-end of d56 together with the VSsl at the3′-terminus to overcome 5′ heterogeneity. A R Ferré-D'Amaré J A Doudna 1996 Use of cis- and trans-ribozymes to remove 5′ and 3′ heterogeneities from milligrams of in vitro transcribed RNA Nucleic Acids Res
  
8600468
hammerhead ribozyme The catalytic activity of the hammerhead ribozyme can be brought under the control of ATP and theophylline by designing conjoined aptamer-ribozyme complexes. J Tang R R Breaker 1997 Rational design of allosteric ribozymes Chem Biol 9224568
hammerhead ribozyme The hammerhead ribozyme is established RNA switches as designer molecular sensors of FMN. G A Soukup R R Breaker 1999 Engineering precision RNA molecular switches Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
  
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hammerhead ribozyme Heterogeneous-length RNA transcripts are processed with a hammerhead ribozyme to yield homogenous-length products. T P Shields A Pardi 1999 High-performance liquid chromatography purification of homogenous-length RNA produced by trans cleavage with a hammerhead ribozyme RNA
  
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hammerhead ribozyme The hammerhead ribozyme is integrated into the transcription unit of a gene or vector leading to potent inhibition of gene or vector expression. Yen, L R. C. Mulligan 2004 Exogenous control of mammalian gene expression through modulation of RNA self-cleavage Nature 15386015
hammerhead ribozyme The hammerhead ribozyme constructs an aptazyme with a theophylline aptamer and a communication module,whose conformational switches inhibit or promote ribosome binding for regulating downstream gene expression. Ogawa, A M. Maeda 2008 An artificial aptazyme-based riboswitch and its cascading system in E. coli Chembiochem
  
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hammerhead ribozyme This paper describes a general approach for the construction of portable and scalable gene-regulatory systems. Win, M. N Win, M. N 2007 A modular and extensible RNA-based gene-regulatory platform for engineering cellular function Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 17709748
hammerhead ribozyme This article used hammerhead ribozyme to develop artificial genetic switches in order to control the regulation of 16S rRNA function in Escherichia coli. Wieland, M., B J. S. Hartig 2010 Aptazyme-mediated regulation of 16S ribosomal RNA Chem Biol 20338515
hammerhead ribozyme This paper shows the theophylline-induced activation of an mRNA-based hammerhead ribozyme resulting in an off-switch of gene expression. Auslander, S., P Auslander, S., P 2010 A ligand-dependent hammerhead ribozyme switch for controlling mammalian gene expression Mol Biosyst 20567766
hammerhead ribozyme Designed tetracycline inducible self-cleaving ribozymes to reduce reporter gene expression in yeast. Wittmann, A B. Suess 2011 Selection of tetracycline inducible self-cleaving ribozymes as synthetic devices for gene regulation in yeast Mol Biosyst 21603688
hammerhead ribozyme This article rationally designed and constructed Boolean logic gates composed of two modular aptazyme-based RNA switches to regulate mRNA translation initiation and tRNA activation. Klauser, B J. S. Hartig 2012 Post-transcriptional Boolean computation by combining aptazymes controlling mRNA translation initiation and tRNA activation Mol Biosyst 22777205
hammerhead ribozyme This article describes a novel approach for using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) in order to identify functional Aptamer-controlled hammerhead ribozymes in bacteria and their subsequent transfer into mammalian cells. Wieland, M M. Fussenegger 2012 Engineering of ribozyme-based riboswitches for mammalian cells Methods 22305857
hammerhead ribozyme This article described a temperature-responsive RNA hairpin based on the hammerhead ribozyme, thus,generated a temperature-controlled ribozyme that called thermozyme. Saragliadis, A J. S. Hartig 2013 Thermozymes: Synthetic RNA thermometers based on ribozyme activity RNA Biol 23595083
hammerhead ribozyme This article introduced an RNA-responsive ribozyme-based expression system to the field of artificial riboregulators that can serve as reprogrammable platform for engineering higher-order genetic circuits. Klauser, B J. S. Hartig 2013 An engineered small RNA-mediated genetic switch based on a ribozyme expression platform Nucleic Acids Res 23585277
hammerhead ribozyme This article reported the re-engineering of hammerhead ribozymes in order to respond efficiently to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Klauser, B J. S. Hartig 2014 Ribozyme-based aminoglycoside switches of gene expression engineered by genetic selection in S. cerevisiae ACS Synth Biol 24871672
hammerhead ribozyme This article described the method to select ribozyme-based switches of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that we successfully implemented to engineer neomycin- and theophylline-responsive switches. Klauser, B J. S. Hartig 2015 Engineering of ribozyme-based aminoglycoside switches of gene expression by in vivo genetic selection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Methods Enzymol 25605392
hammerhead ribozyme This article developed tetracycline-dependent ribozymes, which can switch on gene expression up to 8.7-fold upon addition of tetracycline Beilstein, K B. Suess 2015 Conditional control of mammalian gene expression by tetracycline-dependent hammerhead ribozymes ACS Synth Biol 25265236
twister ribozyme This paper shows that the ribozyme-mediated cleavage of the bacterial 3'-UTR has major effects on gene expression. Felletti, M J. S. Hartig 2017 The 3'-untranslated region of mRNAs as a site for ribozyme cleavage-dependent processing and control in bacteria RNA Biol 27690736
glmS ribozyme This article established a dynamic reprogramming strategy for reconstructing metabolic networks in B. subtilis, using a typical nutraceutical, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), as a model product and the glmS (encoding glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase) ribozyme as an engineering element. Niu, T L. Liu 2018 Engineering a Glucosamine-6-phosphate Responsive glmS Ribozyme Switch Enables Dynamic Control of Metabolic Flux in Bacillus subtilis for Overproduction of N-Acetylglucosamine ACS Synth Biol 30138558
twister ribozyme This article developed mammalian riboswitches that function as guanine-activated ON-switches based on a novel aptazyme architecture in which an aptamer and twister ribozyme are fused in tandem. Mustafina, K Y. Yokobayashi 2020 Design of Mammalian ON-Riboswitches Based on Tandemly Fused Aptamer and Ribozyme ACS Synth Biol 31820936
hammerhead ribozyme This article developed ribozyme-based devices that respond to protein ligands in two eukaryotic hosts, yeast and mammalian cells, to regulate the expression of a gene of interest. Kennedy, A. B C. D. Smolke 2014 Protein-responsive ribozyme switches in eukaryotic cells Nucleic Acids Res 25274734
hammerhead ribozyme This article used HDV as a replicative vector to deliver hammerhead ribozyme into hepatocytes and analyzed the roles of delivered hammerhead ribozyme on the replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Li, X F. Yang 2005 Efficient inhibition of hepatitis B virus replication by hammerhead ribozymes delivered by hepatitis delta virus Virus Res 16054262


Detection System

Many ribozyme-based detection systems have been designed. For example, theophylline-dependent ribozymes can detect theophylline molecules in mammalian cells. Other detection targets, such as proteins or viruses, have also been designed. In addition, the temperature can be detected based on the self-cleavage ribozyme.

ribozyme name Description First author Corresponding author Time reference Journal pubmed ID
hammerhead ribozyme This article reported the re-engineering of hammerhead ribozymes in order to respond efficiently to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Klauser, B J. S. Hartig 2015 Ribozyme-based aminoglycoside switches of gene expression engineered by genetic selection in S. cerevisiae ACS Synth Biol 24871672
hammerhead ribozyme This article shows a generally approach to the development of ribozymes capable of monitoring post-translational modification of specific proteins. Vaish, N. K S. D. Seiwert 2002 Monitoring post-translational modification of proteins with allosteric ribozymes Nat Biotechnol 12118241
hammerhead ribozyme This article demonstrates that ribozymes aimed at the minus-strand replicative intermediate of potato spindle tuber viroid can efficiently block viroid replication and confer high levels of resistance to viroid replication when expressed in transgenic plants. Yang, X P. Tien 1997 Ribozyme-mediated high resistance against potato spindle tuber viroid in transgenic potatoes Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 9144155
twister ribozyme This article stablished a photocaged nucleotide that releases guanosine within microseconds upon photosolvolysis with blue light. Application of this tool to O. sativa twister achieved the spatial (75 µm) and temporal (≤30 ms) control required to resolve folding and self-cleavage events when combined with single-molecule fluorescence detection of the ribozyme folding pathway. Korman, A S. A. Woodson 2020 Light-controlled twister ribozyme with single-molecule detection resolves RNA function in time and space Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 32430319
Diverse ribozymes,include hammerhead ribozyme,twister ribozyme,twister sister ribozyme,pistol ribozyme,hairpin ribozyme,varkud satellite ribozyme This article stablished an RNA integrator comprising a ribozyme and an unfolded form of the fluorogenic aptamer Broccoli, which enables detection of low-abundance targets in vitro and in living cells. You, M S. R. Jaffrey 2019 Detection of Low-Abundance Metabolites in Live Cells Using an RNA Integrator Cell Chem Biol 30773480
hammerhead ribozyme This article shows Bis-aptazyme sensors which comprise the two aptamer-binding sites at both stem I and stem III of the hammerhead ribozyme have been designed as an in situ sensor for the detection of HCV virus related proteins. Cho, S B. G. Kim 2005 Bis-aptazyme sensors for hepatitis C virus replicase and helicase without blank signal Nucleic Acids Res 16314308


Gene Editing system

To overcome the uncontrolled nature of Cas9-gRNA complex cleavage activity in the current CRISPR/Cas9 system, several labs have designed ribozyme-induced gRNA release to achieve on-demand control of Cas9 activity.

ribozyme name Description First author Corresponding author Time reference Journal pubmed ID
glmS ribozyme This article suggests the glmS ribozyme is a very suitable target for antibacterial drug development with antisense oligonucleotides. Traykovska, M R. Penchovsky 2021 Targeting glmS Ribozyme with Chimeric Antisense Oligonucleotides for Antibacterial Drug Development ACS Synth Biol 34734706
HDV ribozyme This article designed an improved CRISPR-Cas12a system included the Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme to facilitate accurate 3'-end processing of the crRNA transcript to produce precise molecules,which enhanced not only the gene editing efficiency, but also the activity of the catalytically inactive Cas12a-based CRISPR gene activation platform. Berkhout, B E. Herrera-Carrillo 2021 Design and Evaluation of Guide RNA Transcripts with a 3'-Terminal HDV Ribozyme to Enhance CRISPR-Based Gene Inactivation Methods in Molecular Biology 32712922
group II intron This article provides the practical basis for potential applications of targeted group II introns in genetic engineering, functional genomics, and gene therapy. Guo, H A. M. Lambowitz 2000 Group II introns designed to insert into therapeutically relevant DNA target sites in human cells Science 10903206
group II intron This article used mobile group II introns to develop a targetron containing a retrotransposition-activated selectable marker (RAM), which enables one-step bacterial gene disruption at near 100% efficiency after selection. Zhong, J A. M. Lambowitz 2003 Targeted and random bacterial gene disruption using a group II intron (targetron) vector containing a retrotransposition-activated selectable marker Nucleic Acids Res 12626707
group II intron This article adapted a mutagenesis system based on the mobile group II intron from the ltrB gene of Lactococcus lactis (Ll.ltrB) to function in clostridial hosts. Heap, J. T N. P. Minton 2007 The ClosTron: a universal gene knock-out system for the genus Clostridium J Microbiol Methods 17658189
group II intron This article provides insight into modes of DNA target site recognition used by mobile group II introns. Zhuang, F A. M. Lambowitz 2009 EcI5, a group IIB intron with high retrohoming frequency: DNA target site recognition and use in gene targeting RNA 19155322
group II intron This article used an efficient mobile group II intron with an IEP lacking the En domain for the efficient recognition of DNA target sites at different locations in the Sinorhizobium meliloti chromosome. Garcia-Rodriguez, F. M N. Toro 2014 Use of the computer-retargeted group II intron RmInt1 of Sinorhizobium meliloti for gene targeting RNA Biol 24646865
RNase P This article uses a sequence-specific ribozyme (M1GS RNA) derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of RNase P from Escherichia coli for inhibiting HCV replication and demonstrates the utility of this ribozyme for antiviral applications. Mao, X G. Li 2014 Inhibition of hepatitis C virus by an M1GS ribozyme derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of Escherichia coli RNase P Virology journal 24885776
RNase P This study is the first to use a sequence-specific ribozyme (M1GS RNA) derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of RNase P for inhibiting human cytomegalovirus replication and demonstrates the utility of this ribozyme for antiviral applications. Trang, P F. Liu 2000 Effective inhibition of human cytomegalovirus gene expression and replication by a ribozyme derived from the catalytic RNA subunit of RNase P from Escherichia coli Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 10811889
hammerhead ribozyme This article reported the use of hammerhead ribozyme for the generation of gRNAs both in vitro and in zebrafish embryos. Lee, R. T P. W. Ingham 2016 Ribozyme Mediated gRNA Generation for In Vitro and In Vivo CRISPR/Cas9 Mutagenesis PLoS One 27832146
hammerhead ribozyme This article developed tetracycline-dependent ribozymes, which can switch on gene expression up to 8.7-fold upon addition of tetracycline. Beilstein, K B. Suess 2015 Conditional control of mammalian gene expression by tetracycline-dependent hammerhead ribozymes ACS Synth Biol 25265236
hammerhead ribozyme This article develops an artificial gene named RGR that, once transcribed, generates an RNA molecule with ribozyme sequences at both ends of the designed gRNA, which can efficiently guide sequence-specific cleavage of DNA targets both in vitro and in yeast. Gao, Y Y. Zhao 2014 Self-processing of ribozyme-flanked RNAs into guide RNAs in vitro and in vivo for CRISPR-mediated genome editing J Integr Plant Biol 24373158
group II intron This article suggests retargeted group II introns can be used for highly specific chromosomal gene disruption in Escherichia coli and other bacteria. Karberg, M A. M. Lambowitz 2001 Group II introns as controllable gene targeting vectors for genetic manipulation of bacteria Nat Biotechnol 11731786
group II intron This article shows mobile group II introns have been used to develop a novel class of gene targeting vectors, targetrons, which employ base pairing for DNA target recognition and can thus be programmed to insert into any desired target DNA. Zhong, J A. M. Lambowitz 2003 Targeted and random bacterial gene disruption using a group II intron (targetron) vector containing a retrotransposition-activated selectable marker Nucleic Acids Res 12626707