Kinetic Isotope Effect Studies to Elucidate the Reaction Mechanism of RNA-Modifying Enzymes

The synthesis of specifically deuterated uridine, its incorporation into an RNA oligonucleotide substrate, and the use of the labeled substrate to determine the deuterium kinetic isotope effect for the reaction catalyzed by the pseudouridine synthases (enzymes that isomerize uridine to pseudouridine in RNA) are described. Both enzymes-TruB and RluA-display a primary kinetic isotope effect, which indicates the formation of a glycal intermediate in the ribose ring during turnover. Although the details of the protocols are specific to these two enzymes, the general methodology is readily adaptable to the synthesis and incorporation of other labeled nucleosides into any RNA molecule by in vitro transcription.