J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 261, Issue 26, 12074-12078, Sep, 1986
15N-labeled tRNA. Identification of 4-thiouridine in Escherichia coli tRNASer1 and tRNATyr2 by 1H-15N two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy
RH Griffey, DR Davis, Z Yamaizumi, S Nishimura, BL Hawkins and CD Poulter
Uridine is uniquely conserved at position 8 in elongator tRNAs and binds to
A14 to form a reversed Hoogsteen base pair which folds the dihydrouridine
loop back into the core of the L-shaped molecule. On the basis of 1H NMR
studies, Hurd and co-workers (Hurd, R. E., Robillard, G. T., and Reid, B.
R. (1977) Biochemistry 16, 2095-2100) concluded that the interaction
between positions 8 and 14 is absent in Escherichia coli tRNAs with only 3
base pairs in the dihydrouridine stem. We have taken advantage of the
unique 15N chemical shift of N3 in thiouridine to identify 1H and 15N
resonances for the imino units of S4U8 and s4U9 in E. coli tRNASer1 and
tRNATyr2. Model studies with chloroform-soluble derivatives of uridine and
4-thiouridine show that the chemical shifts of the protons in the imino
moieties move downfield from 7.9 to 14.4 ppm and from 9.1 to 15.7 ppm,
respectively; whereas, the corresponding 15N chemical shifts move downfield
from 157.5 to 162.5 ppm and from 175.5 to 180.1 ppm upon hydrogen bonding
to 5'-O- acetyl-2',3'-isopropylidene adenosine. The large difference in 15N
chemical shifts for U and s4U allows one to unambiguously identify s4U
imino resonances by 15N NMR spectroscopy. E. coli tRNASer1 and tRNATyr2
were selectively enriched with 15N at N3 of all uridines and modified
uridines. Two-dimensional 1H-15N chemical shift correlation NMR
spectroscopy revealed that both tRNAs have resonances with 1H and 15N
chemical shifts characteristic of s4UA pairs. The 1H shift is approximately
1 ppm upfield from the typical s4U8 resonance at 14.8 ppm, presumably as a
result of local diamagnetic anisotropies. An additional s4U resonance with
1H and 15N shifts typical of interaction of a bound water or a sugar
hydroxyl group with s4U9 was discovered in the spectrum of tRNATyr2. Our
NMR results for tRNAs with 3-base pair dihydrouridine stems suggest that
these molecules have an U8A14 tertiary interaction similar to that found in
tRNAs with 4-base pair dihydrouridine stems.