Fingerprinting nonradioactive ribonucleic acid with the aid of polynucleotide phosphorylase

We describe a method for obtaining radioactive fingerprints from nonradioactive ribonucleic acid. Fragments derived by T1 ribonuclease digestion of RNA are dephosphorylated with bacterial alkaline phosphatase. When these fragments are used as primers for the reaction of primer dependent polynucleotide phosphorylase with [alpha-(32)P]GDP in the presence of T1 ribonuclease the 3'-hydroxyl group of each fragment becomes phosphorylated. The degree of phosphorylation is reasonably uniform. The method has been applied to T1 ribonuclease digests of Escherichia coli tRNA(Met) (f); the oligonucleotides were further analyzed by spleen phosphodiesterase digestion. In a similar manner fingerprints of pancreatic ribonuclease digests of RNA can be obtained, when [alpha-(32)P]UDP, polynucleotide phosphorylase and pancreatic ribonuclease are used.