Ribozyme
Ribozyme is an RNA molecules which possess a catalytic activity due to the tertiary structure that it forms[1]. One of the examples of the ribozyme is the 23S rRNA which is responsible for catalyzing the linkage of to adjacent amino acids by a peptide bond during the process of translation. The ribozymes were first discovered by two American scientist: Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman on 1970s. 20 years later they won a Nobel Prize for "discovery of catalytic properties of RNA"[2].
References
- ↑ Berg J., Tymoczko J., Stryer L. (2007) Biochemistry, 6th edition, New York: WH Freeman.
- ↑ Nobelprize.org "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989". Available at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1989/ (last accessed 5 Dec 2010)