Abstract
Moenomycin A is an amphiphilic phosphoglycolipid antibiotic that interferes with the transglycosylation step in peptidoglycan biosynthesis. The antibiotic consists of a branched pentasaccharide moiety, connected to the moenocinol lipid via a glycerophosphate linker. We have previously described the selection of aptamers that require the lipid group and the disaccharide epitopes of the oligosaccharide moiety for moenomycin-binding. Here we report that the enriched moenomycinbinding library contains sequences that evolved for specific recognition of the unpolar lipid group of the antibiotic. These results suggest that the evolution of hydrophobic binding pockets in RNA molecules may be much more common than previously assumed.
Copyright © 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
