Fluorescent labeling of s²T-incorporated DNA and m⁵s²U-modified RNA

Abstract

We report herein comprehensive investigations of alkylation/sulfur exchange reactions of sulfur-containing substrates including nucleosides such as s²U, m⁵s²U, s⁴U, s²A and s²T-incorporated DNA enable by comprehensive screenings of the reagents (2a–2h). It has been proven that iodoacetamide (2a) displays the most promising feasibility toward sulfur-containing substrates including s²T, s²U, m⁵s²U, s⁴U and s²A. In sharp contrast, the alkylation process with S-benzyl methanethiosulfonate (BMTS, 2h) displays the best application potential only for s⁴U. Based on these results, the fluorescent labeling of s²T-incorporated DNA and m⁵s²U-modified RNA has been achieved.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15257770.2021.1942044 .

Keywords:

• Sulfur modification
• s2T
• m5s2U
• alkylation
• sulfur exchange

Acknowledgment

We thank Prof. Chaomei Xiong for NMR experiment and Prof. Lingkui Meng for mass spectrum.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

R. Wang thanks the starting fund from Huazhong University of Science and Technology for financial support. NSFC (21904044 to Z.F.D) is appreciated for financial support.