Beta-globin co-transcriptional cleavage ribozyme

The Beta-globin co-transcriptional cleavage ribozyme (CotC ribozyme) is an RNA enzyme known as a ribozyme.

Transcription termination of RNA polymerase II transcripts is proposed to occur by a two stage process. The first stage involves pre-termination cleavage (PTC) of the nascent transcript downstream of the poly(A) site. This process is also referred to as co-transcriptional cleavage (CoTC). The CoTC process in the human beta-globin gene has been shown to involve an RNA self-cleaving activity located in the 3' flanking region of the beta-globin gene. The CoTC core is highly conserved in the 3' UTR of other primate beta-globin genes. Functionally, this CoTC ribozyme resembles the 3' processive, self-cleaving ribozymes described for the protein-encoding genes from the myxomycetes Didymium iridis and Physarum polycephalum.

There has been no independent confirmation of these findings.