Figure 2. ALKBH3 has substrate preference for N6-meA in tRNA.
Bovine tRNA, rRNA, and mRNA were incubated in the absence (Mock) or presence of ALKBH3, enzymatically degraded to nucleosides, and then analyzed the methylation status of 1-meA (A), 3-meC (B), and N6-meA (C) by LC-ESI-MS/MS. The peak areas of methylated nucleosides were normalized to that of cytidine. ALKBH3 demethylated only N6-meA in tRNA, 3-mC in tRNA and rRNA, and 1-mA in the three kinds of RNAs. The peak of 3-meC in mRNA was not sufficient for a quantitative determination (N.D.: not determined).