Third Metal Ion Dictates the Catalytic Activity of the Two‐Metal‐Ion Pre‐Ribosomal RNA‐Processing Machinery

Nucleic acid processing enzymes use a two‐Mg 2+ ‐ion motif to promote the formation and cleavage of phosphodiester bonds. Yet, recent evidence demonstrates the presence of spatially conserved second‐shell cations surrounding the catalytic architecture of proteinaceous and RNA‐dependent enzymes. The RNase mitochondrial RNA processing (MRP) complex, which cleaves the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) precursor at the A3 cleavage site to yield mature 5′‐end of 5.8S rRNA, hosts in the catalytic core one atypically‐located Mg 2+ ion, in addition to the ions forming the canonical catalytic motif. Here, we employ biased quantum classical molecular dynamics simulations of RNase MRP to discover that the third Mg 2+ ion inhibits the catalytic process. Instead, its displacement in favour of a second‐shell monovalent K + ion propels phosphodiester bond cleavage by enabling the formation of a specific hydrogen bonding network that mediates the essential proton transfer step. This study points to a direct involvement of a transient K + ion in the catalytic cleavage of the phosphodiester bond and implicates cation trafficking as a general mechanism in nucleic acid processing enzymes and ribozymes.