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Unexpected occurrence of an aminoacylated nucleoside in mammalian tRNATyr

Abstract

MANY tRNAs contain a hypermodified nucleoside at the 3′ side of their anticodons1. The modifications at this position are essential for tRNA function in ribosome binding and amino acid transfer2–4, and cause inability to base pair according to the Watson–Crick scheme5. A striking correlation between the codon response of the tRNA and the nature of this hypermodified nucleoside has been observed: all known sequences of tRNAs (Escherichia coli), with codons beginning with uracil, contain N6-(Δ2-isopentenyl)-2-methylthio-adenosine at the 3′ side of the anticodon6–8, whereas tRNAs with codons starting with adenine, contain an aminoacylated nucleoside, such as N-[N-(9-β-D-ribofuranosyl-purin-6-yl)carbamoyl] threonine (t6A) or the methyl derivative (mt6A) at this position9,10.

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BRAMBILLA, R., ROGG, H. & STAEHELIN, M. Unexpected occurrence of an aminoacylated nucleoside in mammalian tRNATyr. Nature 263, 167–169 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263167a0

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