Selective cleavages of tRNAPhe with secondary and tertiary structures by enediyne antitumor antibiotics

Some enediyne antitumor antibiotics induce site-selective cleavages for yeast tRNA(Phe) with three-dimensional structure. Of special interest is the fact that tRNA(Phe) is specifically cleaved at the anticodon arm regions by C-1027 and esperamicin A1 in the presence of Mg2+ ions. Although neocarzinostatin strongly breaks tRNA(Phe) at 5'-GPu steps in the absence of magnesium ions, its cleavage ability is completely lost in the presence of 100 microM Mg2+ ions. Dynemicin A, which favors an intercalative binding, causes no strand scissions for the RNA with secondary and tertiary structures. This cutting of tRNA(Phe) may reveal that RNA as well as DNA constitutes a therapeutically relevant target for certain enediyne antitumor antibiotics.