Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An RNA molecule that acts as a catalyst, especially for the cleavage of RNA strands at specific sites.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a fragment of RNA that can act as an enzyme

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[ribo(nucleic acid) + (en)zyme.]

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Examples

  • The ribozyme was the template, and was self-complementary.

    Good Math, Bad Math, and David Berlinkski - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • The alternative hypothesis to autocatalysis by catalysis via ligation or other reactions is the hope to form an RNA enzyme, called a ribozyme, that can act as a "polymerase" enzyme able to catalyze the template replication of any RNA, by sequential addition of nucleotides that are Watson Crick complements of the template strand.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • There must exist some mechanism for manufacturing the enzyme (or other biological catalyst, such as ribozyme), and that mechanism must be subject to mutation capable of altering the structure of the enzyme.

    Another Protozoan and Front-Loading 2006

  • There must exist some mechanism for manufacturing the enzyme (or other biological catalyst, such as ribozyme), and that mechanism must be subject to mutation capable of altering the structure of the enzyme.

    Another Protozoan and Front-Loading 2006

  • There must exist some mechanism for manufacturing the enzyme (or other biological catalyst, such as ribozyme), and that mechanism must be subject to mutation capable of altering the structure of the enzyme.

    Another Protozoan and Front-Loading 2006

  • There is much significance made of the "first living cell", but the simplest replicating units discovered so far are actually ribozymes (RNA enzymes) which have less than a billionth as many atoms as a cell (a cell is a few quadrillion atoms, while a ribozyme is a few tens of thousands, if I understand correctly).

    Casey Luskin on Kitzmiller & Information 2010

  • If there was no ancestor, however, how can we avoid thinking about the possibility that all genes are ultimately derived from a single short RNA, the first replicating ribozyme.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • In fact, this prediction can be confirmed by the isolation of a rudimentary RNA replicase ribozyme (52, 53).

    An Interesting Pattern 2008

  • In fact, this prediction can be confirmed by the isolation of a rudimentary RNA replicase ribozyme (52, 53).

    An Interesting Pattern 2008

  • Maybe these water-and-surface pocket "enzymes" are fossils from an important form of RNA world ribozyme activity.

    How Water Protected Our Molecules | Universe Today 2010

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