Effect of modified nucleotides on structure of yeast tRNA(Phe). Comparative studies by metal ion-induced hydrolysis and nuclease mapping

Microarrays for identifying binding sites and probing structure of RNAs

Oligonucleotide microarrays are widely used in various biological studies. In this review, application of oligonucleotide microarrays for identifying binding sites and probing structure of RNAs is described. Deep sequencing allows fast determination of DNA and RNA sequence. High-throughput methods for determination of secondary structures of RNAs have also been developed. Those methods, however, do not reveal binding sites for oligonucleotides. In contrast, microarrays directly determine binding sites while also providing structural insights. Microarray mapping can be used over a wide range of experimental conditions, including temperature, pH, various cations at different concentrations and the presence of other molecules. Moreover, it is possible to make universal microarrays suitable for investigations of many different RNAs, and readout of results is rapid. Thus, microarrays are used to provide insight into oligonucleotide sequences potentially able to interfere with biological function. Better understanding of structure-function relationships of RNA can be facilitated by using microarrays to find RNA regions capable to bind oligonucleotides. That information is extremely important to design optimal sequences for antisense oligonucleotides and siRNA because both bind to single-stranded regions of target RNAs.

Influence of mRNA self-structure on hybridization: computational tools for antisense sequence selection

Antisense targeting, an innovative technology based on preventing biosynthesis through sequence-specific hybridization of mRNA to synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), is used to selectively and transiently downregulate the expression of any gene product. Its potential applications are both investigative (neurobiology and related disciplines) and therapeutic (oncology, virology, genetic diseases), and several antisense-based drugs are currently undergoing clinical trials. However, the reported efficiencies vary and there is still a lack of clarity in the underlying mechanisms of action. A critical factor of antisense efficiency is the issue of target site selection, as both mRNA and ODN molecules exhibit a significant amount of highly heterogeneous self-structure and the region selected for targeting may well be sterically or energetically inaccessible. Because of the prohibitively large chain length, mRNA structural information is not accessible by X-ray crystallography or NMR, making a modeling approach indispensable. I outline how the latest molecular modeling techniques can be employed to establish the secondary (2D) and tertiary (3D) structures into which a given mRNA folds during and after transcription. The aim should be to integrate 2D prediction results achieved by (a) free-energy minimization, (b) kinetic folding simulations, (c) iterative population breeding by genetic algorithms, and (d) phylogenetic comparison techniques. These results can form the input of a 3D structure prediction paradigm based on constraint-satisfying programming, governed by experimental molecular mechanical constraints, and refined by molecular dynamics simulations. Finally, the automated docking (by simulated annealing) of ODN molecules to the mRNA structure can provide information about the accessibility of target mRNA regions for hybridization. To date, the great majority of studies that employ antisense as a tool select their target sequences more or less randomly. Although the wealth of molecular interactions that take place within a cell makes complete predictability unrealistic, the kind of information that can be extracted from such techniques is of relevance to every application of antisense technology, both investigative and therapeutic.

Metal ion-dependent hydrolysis of RNA phosphodiester bonds within hairpin loops. A comparative kinetic study on chimeric ribo/2'-O-methylribo oligonucleotides

Several chimeric ribo/2'- O -methylribo oligonucleotides were synthesized and their hydrolytic cleavage studied in the presence of Mg2+, Zn2+, Pb2+and the 1,4,9-triaza-cyclododecane chelate of Zn2+(Zn2+[12]aneN3) to evaluate the importance of RNA secondary structure as a factor determining the reactivity of phosphodiester bonds. In all the cases studied, a phosphodiester bond within a 4-7 nt loop was hydrolytically more stable than a similar bond within a linear single strand, but markedly less stable than that in a double helix. With Zn2+and Zn2+[12]aneN3, the hydrolytic stability of a phosphodiester bond within a hairpin loop gradually decreased on increasing the distance from the stem. A similar but less systematic trend was observed with Pb2+. Zn2+- and Pb2+-promoted cleavage was observed to be considerably more sensitive to the secondary structure of the chain than that induced by Zn2+[12]aneN3. This difference in behaviour may be attributed to bidentate binding of uncomplexed aquo ions to two different phosphodiester bonds. Mg2+was observed to be catalytically virtually inactive compared with the other cleaving agents studied.

Pleiotropic effects of intron removal on base modification pattern of yeast tRNAPhe: an in vitro study

Cell-free yeast extract has been successfully used to catalyze the enzymatic formation of 11 out of the 14 naturally occurring modified nucleotides in yeast tRNAPhe(anticodon GAA). They are m2G10, D17, m22G26, Cm32, Gm34,psi39, m5C40, m7G46, m5C49, T54 andpsi55. Only D16, Y37 and m1A58 were not formed under in vitro conditions. However, m1G37was quantitatively produced instead of Y37. The naturally occurring intron was absolutely required for m5C40formation while it hindered completely the enzymatic formation of Cm32, Gm34and m1G37. Enzymatic formation of m22G26,psi39, m7G46, m5C49, T54 andpsi55were not or only slightly affected by the presence of the intron. These results allow us to classify the different tRNA modification enzymes into three groups: intron insensitive, intron dependent, and those requiring the absence of the intron. The fact that truncated tRNAPheconsisting of the anticodon stem and loop prolonged with the 19 nucleotide long intron is a substrate for tRNA: cytosine-40 methylase demonstrates that the enzyme is not only strictly intron dependent, but also does not require fully structured tRNA.