Proton NMR studies of manganese ion binding to tRNA-derived acceptor arm duplexes

Several RNA duplexes corresponding to the acceptor arms of different tRNAs have been analyzed with respect to their divalent metal ion binding capability by means of proton NMR spectroscopy using paramagnetic Mn2+ ions as probes. In particular, the role of GU wobble base pairs has been analyzed with reference to their potential for creating metal ion binding sites. It is shown that both the structural modifications induced by GU pairs in the A-RNA geometry and the sequence context seem to affect the metal ion binding capabilities.