Effect of Chemical Modification of Dihydrouridine in Yeast Transfer Ribonucleic Acid on Amino Acid Acceptor Activity and Ribosomal Binding

Dihydrouridine residues in bakers' yeast transfer RNA were reductively cleaved with sodium borohydride. The amino acid acceptor activity of three species of transfer RNA and the ribosomal binding of one species of transfer RNA were determined for these modified transfer RNAs. The data indicate that the reductive cleavage of the dihydrouridine residues in these transfer RNAs has no effect upon their ability to accept amino acids or to bind to ribosomes.