The cleavage of transfer RNA by a single strang specific endonuclease from Neurospora crassa

Endonuclease from Neurospora crassa (NcNase), an enzyme with specificity for polynucleotides lacking an ordered structure, was shown to cleave su+3 tRNATyr from E. coli preferentially in the anticodon region. The enzyme cleaved unfractionated tRNA primarily to 30 - 50 nucleotide size fragments, implying that most or all tRNA species are also cleaved in the anticodon region. The 3' terminal sequence C-A was cleaved as well. The results are discussed with respect to the three dimensional structure of tRNA.