A distance ruler for RNA using EPR and site-directed spin labeling

As a basic model study for measuring distances in RNA molecules using continuous wave (CW) EPR spectroscopy, site-directed spin-labeled 10-mer RNA duplexes and HIV-1 TAR RNA motifs with various interspin distances were examined. The spin labels were attached to the 2'-NH2 positions of appropriately placed uridines in the duplexes, and interspin distances were measured from both molecular dynamics simulations (MD) and Fourier deconvolution methods (FD). The 10-mer duplexes have interspin distances ranging from 10 A to 30 A based on MD; however, dipolar line broadening of the CW EPR spectrum is only observed for the RNAs for predicted interspin distances of 10-21 A and not for distances over 25 A. The conformational changes in TAR (transactivating responsive region) RNA in the presence and in the absence of different divalent metal ions were monitored by measuring distances between two nucleotides in the bulge region. The predicted interspin distances obtained from the FD method and those from MD calculations match well for both the model RNA duplexes and the structural changes predicted for TAR RNA. These results demonstrate that distance measurement using EPR spectroscopy is a potentially powerful method to help predict the structures of RNA molecules.