Alpha-sarcin cleaves ribosomal RNA at the alpha-sarcin site in the absence of ribosomal proteins

Abstract

alpha-Sarcin is capable of specifically cleaving the single phosphodiester bond in the "alpha-sarcin site" of both Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae large rRNAs in the absence of ribosomal proteins. With both sources of rRNA, the rate of cleavage was comparable with and without ribosomal proteins but more complete cleavage was observed in the absence of ribosomal proteins. These observations contrast with earlier findings and indicate that ribosomal proteins are not essential to the unique specificity of the cleavage of rRNA by alpha-sarcin.