Effect of threonylcarbamoyl modification (t6A) in yeast tRNA Arg III on codon-anticodon and anticodon-anticodon interactions. A thermodynamic and kinetic evaluation.

The effect of N-[9-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl) purin-6-ylcarbamoyl]threonine (t6A) adjacent to anticodon U-C-U of yeast tRNA Arg III (where U is a modified U), compared to its unmodified adenosine counterpart, has been evaluated by three independent methods: (a) the polynucleotide-directed binding of tRNA on ribosomes, (b) the ribosome-free trinucleotide binding to the anticodon, (c) the anticodon-anticodon binding test. The results obtained by these three methods indicate a small but significant stabilization effect of t6A on the binding of yeast tRNA Arg III with (a) poly(A,G) in the presence of Escherichia coli ribosomes, (b) free A-G-A triplet, and (c) E. coli tRNA Ser V (anticodon G-G-A). We therefore conclude that the stabilization effect of t6A occurs on U x A and U x G base pairs adjacent to the 5' side of the modified nucleoside, most probably by stacking.