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. 1998 Jun 1;26(11):2723-8.
doi: 10.1093/nar/26.11.2723.

Mg2+ binding and structural stability of mature and in vitro synthesized unmodified Escherichia coli tRNAPhe

V Serebrov  1 , K Vassilenko, N Kholod, H J Gross, L Kisselev
Affiliations

Mg2+ binding and structural stability of mature and in vitro synthesized unmodified Escherichia coli tRNAPhe

V Serebrov et al. Nucleic Acids Res. .

Abstract

Mature tRNAPhe from Escherichia coli and the transcript of its gene lacking modified nucleotides were compared by a variety of physical techniques. Melting experiments revealed that at a low Mg2+level the transcript was partially denatured, while the mature tRNA possessed intact tertiary interactions. Mg2+binding to both tRNAs was studied by CD and UV techniques as well as by using the Mg2+-sensitive fluorescence indicator, 8-hydroxyquinoline 5-sulfonic acid. Both tRNA forms exhibited a single strong Mg2+-binding site, its dissociation constant was 10-fold higher for the transcript. Conformational changes in response to Mg2+ addition measured by CD and UV spectrometry revealed no difference for the estimated binding cooperativity and strong differences for affinities of Mg2+-binding sites for the two tRNA forms. Conformational transitions in mature and in in vitro synthesized tRNA required the binding of two Mg2+ ions per molecule and therefore should be associated not only with a single strong binding site. The Mg2+ dependence of Stokes radii measured by gel-filtration revealed insignificant differences between the overall sizes of the two tRNA forms at physiological Mg2+ levels (>1 mM). Taken together, these results suggest that modified nucleotides stabilize tertiary interactions and increase the structure stability without affecting the mechanism of Mg2+binding and overall folding of the tRNA molecule. This conclusion is supported by the known biological activity of the E. coli tRNAPhe gene transcript.

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