Interaction of tRNA with antitumor polyamine analogues.

We studied the interaction between tRNA and three polyamine analogues (1,11-diamino-4,8-diazaundecane.4HCl (333), 3,7,11,15-tetrazaheptadecane.4HCl (BE-333), and 3,7,11,15,19-pentazahenicosane.5HCl (BE-3333)) using FTIR, UV-visible, and CD spectroscopic methods. Spectroscopic evidence showed that polyamine analogues bound tRNA via guanine N7, adenine, uracil O2, and the backbone phosphate (PO2-) groups, while the most reactive sites for biogenic polyamines were guanine N7/O6, adenine N7, uracil O2, and sugar 2'-OH groups as well as the backbone phosphate group. The binding constants of polyamine analogue-tRNA recognition were lower than those of the biogenic polyamine-tRNA complexes, with K333 = 2.8 (+/-0.5) x 10(4), K(BE-333) = 3.7 (+/-0.7) x 10(4), K(BE-3333) = 4.0 (+/-0.9) x 10(4), K(spm) = 8.7 (+/-0.9) x 10(5), K(spd) = 6.1 (+/-0.7) x 10(5), and K(put) = 1.0 (+/-0.3) x 10(5) mol/L. tRNA remained in the A-family conformation; however, it aggregated at high polyamine analogue concentrations.