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. 1995 May 23;92(11):4803–4807. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.11.4803

Determination of the angle between the anticodon and aminoacyl acceptor stems of yeast phenylalanyl tRNA in solution.

M W Friederich 1, F U Gast 1, E Vacano 1, P J Hagerman 1
PMCID: PMC41795  PMID: 7761403

Abstract

A principal feature of the crystal structures of tRNAs is an L-shaped tertiary conformation in which the aminoacyl acceptor stem and the anticodon stem are approximately perpendicular. However, the anticodon-acceptor interstem angle has not been precisely quantified in solution for any tRNA. Such a determination would represent an important test of the predicted global conformation of tRNAs in solution. To this end, we have constructed a yeast tRNA(Phe) heteroduplex RNA molecule in which the anticodon and acceptor stems of the tRNA have each been extended by approximately 70 base pairs. A comparison of the rotational decay times of the heteroduplex molecule and a linear control yields an interstem angle of 89 +/- 4 degrees in 4 mM magnesium chloride/100 microM spermine hydrochloride, essentially identical to the corresponding angle observed in the crystal under similar buffer and temperature conditions. The current approach is applicable to the study of a wide variety of RNA molecules that possess elements of nonhelical structure.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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