Conversion of a Ribozyme to a Deoxyribozyme through In Vitro Evolution

This paper outlines the conversion of a ribozyme to a deoxyribozyme and the activity level of the DNA product before and after several rounds of in vitro evolution. What emerges is that ribozymes and deoxyribozymes do not share inherent catalytic ability based on sequence alone, as the prepared DNA product of the ribozyme sequence showed no catalytic activity initially. Only after 10 rounds of directed evolution did it approach the efficiency of the ribozyme ligase. The author notes "The transfer of function is more difficult because function is an overall property of a macromolecule and cannot be conveyed in a sequential manner." This is reaffirmed when the final, efficient deoxyribozyme is used as template to create a ribozyme. The ribozyme product also showed no catalytic activity initially.