Visualization of RNA tertiary structure by RNA-EDTA.Fe(II) autocleavage: analysis of tRNA(Phe) with uridine-EDTA.Fe(II) at position 47.

To test whether intramolecular autocleavage of RNA labeled at a single nucleotide position with EDTA.Fe(II) is a useful approach for the investigation of tertiary structures of RNAs, yeast phenylalanine tRNA was synthesized with uridine-EDTA (*U) at position U47. Autocleavage of [*U47]tRNA(Phe) in the presence of Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 and dithiothreitol produced a set of cleavage fragments which are in general agreement with the three-dimensional structure derived from x-ray analysis.