Queuine is incorporated into brain transfer RNA

Pig brain tRNA was assayed for the presence of queuosine in the first position of the anticodon for each of the Q-family of tRNAs (aspartyl, asparaginyl, histidyl and tyrosyl). The brain tRNA was aminoacylated with each of the four amino acids and the aminoacylated tRNA's analyzed by RPC-5 chromatography. The results of this study show that for all four tRNAs of the family, queuine is substituted for guanine in virtually 100% of the anticodons. Therefore, it can be concluded that queuine is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and that brain contains guanine-queuine tRNA transglycosylase, the enzyme responsible for the excision of guanine from the original transcripts of these tRNAs and insertion of queuine. The determination of whether the tRNA contained queuine was made from the elution profile of the RPC-5 chromatograms and the results confirmed by a change in the RPC-5 elution profile when the tRNAs were reacted with BrCN or NaIO4.