N6-methyladenosine-sensitive RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes.

N6-methyladenosine-sensitive RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Oct 01;:
Authors: Höbartner C, Sednev MV, Mykhailiuk V, Choudhury P, Halang J, Sloan KE, Bohnsack MT
Abstract
Deoxyribozymes are synthetic enzymes made of DNA that can catalyze the cleavage or formation of phosphodiester bonds and are useful tools for RNA biochemistry. Here we report new RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes to interrogate the methylation status of target RNAs, thereby providing an alternative method for the biochemical validation of RNA methylation sites containing N6-methyladenosine, which is the most wide-spread and extensively investigated natural RNA modification. Using in vitro selection from random DNA, we developed deoxyribozymes that are sensitive to the presence of N6-methyladenosine in RNA near the cleavage site. One class of these DNA enzymes shows faster cleavage of methylated RNA, while others are strongly inhibited by the modified nucleotide. The general applicability of the new deoxyribozymes is demonstrated for several examples of natural RNA sequences, including a lncRNA and a set of C/D box snoRNAs, which have been suggested to contain m6A as a regulatory element that influences RNA folding and protein binding.
PMID: 30276938 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Angewandte Chemie - October 1, 2018 Category: Chemistry Authors: Höbartner C, Sednev MV, Mykhailiuk V, Choudhury P, Halang J, Sloan KE, Bohnsack MT Tags: Angew Chem Int Ed Engl Source Type: research