BY MARYE ANNE FOX Department of Chemistry University of Texas, Austin Austin, Tex.
" Acyl transfer, hydrolysis, carbon-carbon and amide bond formation, and redox reactions can be catalyzed by antibodies (abzymes). A recently published article demonstrates that specific hydrolysis of unactivated esters by bound antibodies can occur with rate accelerations of 10^3 to 10^5 above background.
K.D. Janda, S.J. Benkovic, R.A. Lerner, “Catalytic antibodies with lipase activity and R or S substrate selectivity,” Science, 244,437-40,28 April 1989. (Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, Calif.; Pennsylvania State University, University Park) " Introducing a single phosphorothioate at the cleavage site in a site-specific ribonuclease causes no kinetic change, enabling the reaction to be classified as an SN displacement, much like-those catalyzed by transferases and nucleases.
J.A. McSwiggen, T.R. Cech, “Stereochemistiy of RNA cleavage by the Tetrahymena ribozyme and evidence that the chemical step is not rate-limiting,” Science, 244, 679-83, 12 May ...
