Micropreparative separation of transfer ribonucleic acids by high-performance liquid chromatography

A method was developed for the micropreparative separation of individual species of tRNA using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on large pore spherical silica bonded with C3 alkyl chains. Columns were eluted with linear gradients of decreasing sodium chloride and increasing methanol concentrations. The decreasing salt gradient gradually abolished hydrophobic interactions and a significantly higher selectivity was thus obtained when compared with increasing gradients of salts usually employed in reversed-phase separations of tRNA. The acceptance of tRNA fractions was tested by charging them with fifteen different amino acids. Significantly different separations were obtained with tRNA from Escherichia coli and from rat liver. tRNAGlu and tRNATyr from E. coli were obtained in a pure form, all other tRNAs were more or less contaminated by adjoining tRNAs for other amino acids. Rechromatography under suitable isocratic conditions was required to obtain pure tRNA species from rat liver. Isoaccepting tRNAs for several amino acids were separated from rat liver. The method described seems suitable for preliminary fractionations of complex mixtures of tRNA and for a simple purification of isoaccepting species if the presence of tRNAs for other amino acids is not an hindrance.