Expanding the chemical scope of RNA:methyltransferases to site-specific alkynylation of RNA for click labeling

Nucleic Acids Res. 2011 Mar;39(5):1943-52. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkq825. Epub 2010 Oct 30.

Abstract

This work identifies the combination of enzymatic transfer and click labeling as an efficient method for the site-specific tagging of RNA molecules for biophysical studies. A double-activated analog of the ubiquitous co-substrate S-adenosyl-l-methionine was employed to enzymatically transfer a five carbon chain containing a terminal alkynyl moiety onto RNA. The tRNA:methyltransferase Trm1 transferred the extended alkynyl moiety to its natural target, the N2 of guanosine 26 in tRNA(Phe). LC/MS and LC/MS/MS techniques were used to detect and characterize the modified nucleoside as well as its cycloaddition product with a fluorescent azide. The latter resulted from a labeling reaction via Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-cycloaddition click chemistry, producing site-specifically labeled RNA whose suitability for single molecule fluorescence experiments was verified in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy experiments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkynes / metabolism
  • Base Sequence
  • Click Chemistry*
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Organic Chemicals
  • RNA, Transfer, Phe / chemistry*
  • RNA, Transfer, Phe / metabolism
  • S-Adenosylmethionine / analogs & derivatives
  • S-Adenosylmethionine / chemistry
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • tRNA Methyltransferases / metabolism*

Substances

  • AdoEnYn
  • Alexa594
  • Alkynes
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Organic Chemicals
  • RNA, Transfer, Phe
  • S-Adenosylmethionine
  • tRNA Methyltransferases