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Engineered RNase P ribozymes are promising genetargeting agents that can be used in both basic research and clinical applications. We have previously selected ribozyme variants for their activity in cleaving an mRNA substrate from a pool of ribozymes containing randomized sequences. In this study, one of the variants was used to target the mRNA encoding thymidine kinase (TK) of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). The variant exhibited enhanced cleavage and substrate binding and was at least 30 times more efficient in cleaving TK mRNA in vitro than the ribozyme derived from the wild type sequence. Our results provide the first direct evidence to suggest that a point mutation at nucleotide 95 of RNase P catalytic RNA from Escherichia coli (G95 → U95) increases the rate of cleavage, whereas another mutation at nucleotide 200 (A200 → C200) enhances substrate binding of the ribozyme. A reduction of about 99% in TK expression was observed in cells expressing the variant, whereas a 70% reduction was found in cells expressing the ribozyme derived from the wild type sequence. Thus, the RNase P ribozyme variant is highly effective in inhibiting HSV-1 gene expression. Our study demonstrates that ribozyme variants increase their cleavage activity and efficacy in blocking gene expression in cells through enhanced substrate binding and rate of cleavage. These results also provide insights into the mechanism of how RNase P ribozymes efficiently cleave an mRNA substrate and, furthermore, facilitate the development of highly active RNase P ribozymes for gene-targeting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]