Fluorescent RNA cytosine analogue - an internal probe for detailed structure and dynamics investigations.

ABSTRACT: The bright fluorescent cytosine analogue tC^O stands out among fluorescent bases due to its virtually unquenched fluorescence emission in duplex DNA. However, like most reported base analogues, it has not been thoroughly characterized in RNA. We here report on the first synthesis and RNA-incorporation of tC^O, and characterize its base-mimicking and fluorescence properties in RNA. As in DNA, we find a high quantum yield inside RNA duplexes (<Φ_F> = 0.22) that is virtually unaffected by the neighbouring bases (Φ_F = 0.20-0.25), resulting in an average brightness of 1900 M^-1 cm^-1. The average fluorescence lifetime in RNA duplexes is 4.3 ns and generally two lifetimes are required to fit the exponential decays. Fluorescence propert

SUBMITTER: Fuchtbauer AF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5443824 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature