Summary: | Hammerhead ribozymes are one of the most studied classes of ribozymes so far, from both the structural and biochemical point of views. The activity of most hammerhead ribozymes is cation-dependent. Mg<sup>2+</sup> is one of the most abundant divalent cations in the cell and therefore plays a major role in cleavage activity for most hammerhead ribozymes. Besides Mg<sup>2+</sup>, cleavage can also occur in the presence of other cations such as Mn<sup>2+</sup>. The catalytic core of hammerhead ribozymes is highly conserved, which could contribute to a preference of hammerhead ribozymes toward certain cations. Here, we show a naturally occurring variation in the catalytic core of hammerhead ribozymes, A6C, that can favor one metallic ion, Mn<sup>2+</sup>, over several other cations.
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