Probing secondary structures of spin-labeled RNA by pulsed EPR spectroscopy.

The ability of RNA to interconvert between multiple conformational states is essential for the diversity of biological functions that have been discovered in the recent past. For example, the correct operation of regulatory RNA elements, such as riboswitches, is based on the precise interplay of alternative RNA conformations. Studying the molecular mechanisms of RNA function entails probing RNA-folding intermediates on the energy landscape. EPR spectroscopy, in particular, has been increasingly applied to obtain structural information on nucleic acids, including local conformational changes in RNA and the identification of metal-ion binding sites. Pulsed EPR techniques (PELDOR/ DEER) have been used to determine distances between paramagnetic centers in specifically modified RNA. PELDOR should therefore be suitable for the detection of alternative RNA conformations that involve distinct changes in base-pairing patterns. The accessibility of spin-labeled RNA still poses the major challenge for the widespread applicability of powerful EPR techniques. Nitroxide radicals are the most commonly used type of paramagnetic labels for nucleic acids. Several methods have been reported for attaching nitroxide groups at internal positions at the ribose, the phosphate backbone, or at nucleobases, often by means of multiatom linkers that provide several unwanted degrees of rotational freedom. Rigid nitroxide spin labels conjugated to the nucleobase or to nucleobase analogues have been reported for DNA. Our RNA spin-labeling approach addresses the direct attachment of nitroxide labels onto RNA nucleobases, such that conformational changes can be directly detected by PELDOR (i.e., by the change in distance between two labeled nucleotides). The nucleobase spin labels used in this study are also designed to preserve the Watson–Crick base-pairing capability of labeled nucleotides and not to interfere with alternative base-pairing patterns in different RNA conformations. Here, we describe the installation of nitroxide spin labels on exocyclic amino groups of the RNA nucleobases guanine, adenine, and cytosine (Figure 1) with unprecedented effi-