N4-Allylcytidine: a new nucleoside analogue for RNA labelling and chemical sequencing†

RNA labelling has become indispensable in studying RNA biology. Nucleoside analogues with a chemical sequencing power represent desirable RNA labelling molecules because precise labelling information at base resolution can be obtained. Here, we report a new nucleoside analogue, N⁴-allylcytidine (a⁴C), which is able to tag RNA through both in vitro and in vivo pathways and further specifically reacts with iodine to form 3, N⁴-cyclized cytidine (cyc-C) in a catalyst-free, fast and complete manner. Full spectroscopic characterization concluded that cyc-C consisted of paired diastereoisomers with opposite chiral carbon centers in the fused 3, N⁴-five-membered ring. During RNA reverse transcription into complementary DNA, cyc-C induces base misincorporation due to the disruption of canonical hydrogen bonding by the cyclized structure and thus can be accurately identified by sequencing at single base resolution. With the chemical sequencing rationale of a⁴C, successful applications have been performed including pinpointing N⁴-methylcytidine methyltransferases’ substrate modification sites, metabolically labelling mammalian cellular RNAs, and mapping active cellular RNA polymerase locations with the chromatin run-on RNA sequencing technique. Collectively, our work demonstrates that a⁴C is a promising molecule for RNA labelling and chemical sequencing and expands the toolkit for studying sophisticated RNA biology.