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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Genome-wide Analysis of Aminoacylation (Charging) Levels of tRNA Using Microarrays
Published on: June 18, 2010
Preparation of translationally competent tRNA by direct chemical acylation
Noah H Duffy1, Dennis A Dougherty
1Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Abstract:
Nonsense codon suppression for unnatural amino acid incorporation requires the preparation of a suppressor aminoacyl-tRNA. Chemical acylation strategies are general but inefficient and arduous. A recent report (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 15848) showed acylation of RNA mediated by lanthanum(III) using amino acid phosphate esters. The successful implementation of this methodology to full-length suppressor tRNA is described, and it is shown that the derived aminoacyl-tRNA is translationally competent in Xenopus oocytes.
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