Although ribozymes are quite rare in most cells, their roles are sometimes essential to life. For example, the functional part of the ribosome, the biological machine that translates RNA into proteins, is fundamentally a ribozyme, composed of RNA tertiary structural motifs that are often coordinated to metal ions such as Mg as cofactors. In a model system, there is no requirement for divalent cations in a five-nucleotide RNA catalyzing trans-phenylalanation of a four-nucleotide substrate with 3 base pairs complementary with the catalyst, where the catalyst/substrate were devised by truncation of the C3 ribozyme.
The best-studied ribozymes are probably those that cut themselves or other RNAs, as in the original discovery by Cech and Altman. However, ribozymes can be designed to catalyze a range of reactions, many of which may occur in life but have not been discovered in cells.
RNA may catalyze folding of the pathological protein conformation of a prion in a manner similar to that of a chaperonin.