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More than Proton Detection—New Avenues for NMR Spectroscopy of RNA
Author(s) -
Schnieders Robbin,
Keyhani Sara,
Schwalbe Harald,
Fürtig Boris
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201903355
Subject(s) - rna , riboswitch , nucleobase , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , aptamer , chemical shift , heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectroscopy , nucleic acid structure , oligonucleotide , non coding rna , chemistry , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nucleic acids , computational biology , biophysics , biology , fluorine 19 nmr , biochemistry , stereochemistry , dna , transverse relaxation optimized spectroscopy , genetics , gene
Ribonucleic acid oligonucleotides (RNAs) play pivotal roles in cellular function (riboswitches), chemical biology applications (SELEX‐derived aptamers), cell biology and biomedical applications (transcriptomics). Furthermore, a growing number of RNA forms (long non‐coding RNAs, circular RNAs) but also RNA modifications are identified, showing the ever increasing functional diversity of RNAs. To describe and understand this functional diversity, structural studies of RNA are increasingly important. However, they are often more challenging than protein structural studies as RNAs are substantially more dynamic and their function is often linked to their structural transitions between alternative conformations. NMR is a prime technique to characterize these structural dynamics with atomic resolution. To extend the NMR size limitation and to characterize large RNAs and their complexes above 200 nucleotides, new NMR techniques have been developed. This Minireview reports on the development of NMR methods that utilize detection on low‐γ nuclei (heteronuclei like 13 C or 15 N with lower gyromagnetic ratio than 1 H) to obtain unique structural and dynamic information for large RNA molecules in solution. Experiments involve through‐bond correlations of nucleobases and the phosphodiester backbone of RNA for chemical shift assignment and make information on hydrogen bonding uniquely accessible. Previously unobservable NMR resonances of amino groups in RNA nucleobases are now detected in experiments involving conformational exchange‐resistant double‐quantum 1 H coherences, detected by 13 C NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, 13 C and 15 N chemical shifts provide valuable information on conformations. All the covered aspects point to the advantages of low‐γ nuclei detection experiments in RNA.