Höbartner's scientific interest is in the
nucleic acidsDNA and
RNA and their function as
biocatalysts that mediate the course of biochemical reactions. In 2016, she published the first
X-ray structure of a DNA enzyme (deoxyribozyme) that catalyzes the ligation of two RNA fragments in Nature.
She has developed DNA enzymes for the detection of modified nucleotides in RNA, too.[3][4] In 2020, she reported, also in Nature[5] the first
methyltransferaseribozyme (MTR1), and published its structure and mechanism in 2022.[6] The discovery of the methyltransferase ribozyme provides clues to the catalytic abilities of RNA, which may have played an important role during early evolution. Methylated
nucleotides are found in the RNA of all living organisms at precisely defined sites that are essential for the structure and function of RNA. In addition, methylated nucleotides play an important role in
mRNA vaccines.
Another project of her research group deals with the investigation of the replication inhibition of the
corona virus by
Remdesivir and
Molnupiravir[7]
Academic distinctions
2004
Roche Symposium Award (Leading chemists of the next decade), Basel, Switzerland
2005 Georg and Christine Sosnovsky Award, (Thesis Award, Universität Innsbruck, Austria)
C. Höbartner, M.-O. Ebert, B. Jaun, R. Micura: RNA‐Konformationsgleichgewichte und der Einfluss der Methylierung von Nucleobasen auf die Gleichgewichtslage. In: Wiley Online Library. 2002.
doi:
10.1002/1521-3757(20020215)114:4<619::AID-ANGE619>3.0.CO;2-2
A. Serganov, S. Keiper, L. Malinina, C. Höbartner u. a.: Structural basis for Diels-Alder ribozyme-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond formation. In: Nat Struct Mol Biol. Band 12, 2005, S. 218–224.
doi:10.1038/nsmb906
D. Heller, H. Jin, B. Martinez, C. Höbartner u. a.: Multimodal optical sensing and analyte specificity using single-walled carbon nanotubes. In: Nature Nanotech. Band 4, 2009, S. 114–120.
doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.369
A. Ponce-Salvatierra, K. Wawrzyniak-Turek, U. Steuerwald, C. Höbartner u. a.: Crystal structure of a DNA catalyst. In: Nature. Band 529, 2016, S. 231–234.
doi:10.1038/nature16471
C. P. M. Scheitl, M. Ghaem Maghami, A. K. Lenz, C. Höbartner u. a.: Site-specific RNA methylation by a methyltransferase ribozyme. In: Nature. Band 587, 2020, S. 663–667.
doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2854-z
A. Liaqat, C. Stiller, M. Michel, M. V. Sednev, C. Höbartner: N6-isopentenyladenosine in RNA determines the cleavage site of endonuclease deoxyribozymes. In: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Band 59, 2020, S. 18627–18631.
doi:10.1002/anie.202006218