RNase footprinting demonstrates antigenomic hepatitis delta virus ribozyme structural rearrangement as a result of self-cleavage reaction.

Background: Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a satellite virus of hepatitis B. During viral replication the 1700-nucleotide-long genomic RNA and its complement, the antigenomic RNA, undergo self-cleavage catalyzed by internal ribozyme motifs that are essential for propagation of the virus in vivo. These self-cleavage activities are provided by 85-nucleotide-long sequence elements, the genomic and antigenomic forms of HDV ribozyme.