@unpublished{ScheitlMieczkowskiSchindelinetal.2022, author = {Scheitl, Carolin P. M. and Mieczkowski, Mateusz and Schindelin, Hermann and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {Structure and mechanism of the methyltransferase ribozyme MTR1}, series = {Nature Chemical Biology}, journal = {Nature Chemical Biology}, edition = {submitted version}, doi = {10.1038/s41589-022-00976-x}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-272170}, year = {2022}, abstract = {RNA-catalysed RNA methylation was recently shown to be part of the catalytic repertoire of ribozymes. The methyltransferase ribozyme MTR1 catalyses the site-specific synthesis of 1-methyladenosine (m\(^1\)A) in RNA, using O\(^6\)-methylguanine (m\(^6\)G) as methyl group donor. Here we report the crystal structure of MTR1 at a resolution of 2.8 {\AA}, which reveals a guanine binding site reminiscent of natural guanine riboswitches. The structure represents the postcatalytic state of a split ribozyme in complex with the m1A-containing RNA product and the demethylated cofactor guanine. The structural data suggest the mechanistic involvement of a protonated cytidine in the methyl transfer reaction. A synergistic effect of two 2'-O-methylated ribose residues in the active site results in accelerated methyl group transfer. Supported by these results, it seems plausible that modified nucleotides may have enhanced early RNA catalysis and that metabolite-binding riboswitches may resemble inactivated ribozymes that have lost their catalytic activity during evolution.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{ScheitlGhaemMaghamiLenzetal.2020, author = {Scheitl, Carolin P.M. and Ghaem Maghami, Mohammad and Lenz, Ann-Kathrin and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {Site-specific RNA methylation by a methyltransferase ribozyme}, series = {Nature}, journal = {Nature}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2854-z}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218687}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Nearly all classes of coding and non-coding RNA undergo post-transcriptional modification including RNA methylation. Methylated nucleotides belong to the evolutionarily most conserved features of tRNA and rRNA.1,2 Many contemporary methyltransferases use the universal cofactor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as methyl group donor. This and other nucleotide-derived cofactors are considered as evolutionary leftovers from an RNA World, in which ribozymes may have catalysed essential metabolic reactions beyond self-replication.3 Chemically diverse ribozymes seem to have been lost in Nature, but may be reconstructed in the laboratory by in vitro selection. Here, we report a methyltransferase ribozyme that catalyses the site-specific installation of 1-methyladenosine (m1A) in a substrate RNA, utilizing O6-methylguanine (m6G) as a small-molecule cofactor. The ribozyme shows a broad RNA sequence scope, as exemplified by site-specific adenosine methylation in tRNAs. This finding provides fundamental insights into RNA's catalytic abilities, serves a synthetic tool to install m1A in RNA, and may pave the way to in vitro evolution of other methyltransferase and demethylase ribozymes.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{FerschMalyRueheetal.2023, author = {Fersch, Daniel and Mal{\´y}, Pavel and R{\"u}he, Jessica and Lisinetskii, Victor and Hensen, Matthias and W{\"u}rthner, Frank and Brixner, Tobias}, title = {Single-Molecule Ultrafast Fluorescence-Detected Pump-Probe Microscopy}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-31348}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313485}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We introduce fluorescence-detected pump-probe microscopy by combining a wavelength-tunable ultrafast laser with a confocal scanning fluorescence microscope, enabling access to the femtosecond time scale on the micrometer spatial scale. In addition, we obtain spectral information from Fourier transformation over excitation pulse-pair time delays. We demonstrate this new approach on a model system of a terrylene bisimide (TBI) dye embedded in a PMMA matrix and acquire the linear excitation spectrum as well as time-dependent pump-probe spectra simultaneously. We then push the technique towards single TBI molecules and analyze the statistical distribution of their excitation spectra. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ultrafast transient evolution of several individual molecules, highlighting their different behavior in contrast to the ensemble due to their individual local environment. By correlating the linear and nonlinear spectra, we assess the effect of the molecular environment on the excited-state energy.}, subject = {Fluoreszenz}, language = {en} } @unpublished{SaalSwainSchmiedeletal.2023, author = {Saal, Fridolin and Swain, Asim and Schmiedel, Alexander and Holzapfel, Marco and Lambert, Christoph and Ravat, Prince}, title = {Push-Pull [7]Helicene Diimide: Excited-State Charge Transfer and Solvatochromic Circularly Polarised Luminescence}, edition = {submitted version}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-345207}, year = {2023}, abstract = {In this communication we describe a helically chiral push-pull molecule named 9,10-dimethoxy-[7]helicene diimide, displaying fluorescence (FL) and circularly polarised luminescence (CPL) over nearly the entire visible spectrum dependent on solvent polarity. The synthesised molecule exhibits an unusual solvent polarity dependence of FL quantum yield and nonradiative rate constant, as well as remarkable gabs and glum values along with high configurational stability.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{NeitzBessiKuperetal.2023, author = {Neitz, Hermann and Bessi, Irene and Kuper, Jochen and Kisker, Caroline and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {Programmable DNA interstrand crosslinking by alkene-alkyne [2+2] photocycloaddition}, series = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, edition = {submitted version}, doi = {10.1021/jacs.3c01611}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311822}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Covalent crosslinking of DNA strands provides a useful tool for medical, biochemical and DNA nanotechnology applications. Here we present a light-induced interstrand DNA crosslinking reaction using the modified nucleoside 5-phenylethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (\(^{Phe}\)dU). The crosslinking ability of \(^{Phe}\)dU was programmed by base pairing and by metal ion interaction at the Watson-Crick base pairing site. Rotation to intrahelical positions was favored by hydrophobic stacking and enabled an unexpected photochemical alkene-alkyne [2+2] cycloaddition within the DNA duplex, resulting in efficient formation of a \(^{Phe}\)dU-dimer after short irradiation times of a few seconds. A \(^{Phe}\)dU dimer-containing DNA was shown to efficiently bind a helicase complex, but the covalent crosslink completely prevented DNA unwinding, suggesting possible applications in biochemistry or structural biology.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{StennettBissingerGriesbecketal.2019, author = {Stennett, Tom E. and Bissinger, Philipp and Griesbeck, Stefanie and Ullrich, Stefan and Krummenacher, Ivo and Auth, Michael and Sperlich, Andreas and Stolte, Matthias and Radacki, Krzysztof and Yao, Chang-Jiang and W{\"u}rthner, Frank and Steffen, Andreas and Marder, Todd B. and Braunschweig, Holger}, title = {Near-Infrared Quadrupolar Chromophores Combining Three-Coordinate Boron-Based Superdonor and Superacceptor Units}, series = {Angewandte Chemie, International Edition}, journal = {Angewandte Chemie, International Edition}, doi = {10.1002/anie.201900889}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180391}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In this work, two new quadrupolar A-π-D-π-A chromophores have been prepared featuring a strongly electron- donating diborene core and strongly electron-accepting dimesitylboryl F(BMes2) and bis(2,4,6-tris(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)boryl (BMes2) end groups. Analysis of the compounds by NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, cyclic voltammetry and UV-vis-NIR absorption and emission spectroscopy indicated that the compounds possess extended conjugated π-systems spanning their B4C8 cores. The combination of exceptionally potent π-donor (diborene) and π- acceptor (diarylboryl) groups, both based on trigonal boron, leads to very small HOMO-LUMO gaps, resulting in strong absorption in the near-IR region with maxima in THF at 840 and 1092 nm, respectively, and very high extinction coefficients of ca. 120,000 M-1cm-1. Both molecules also display weak near-IR fluorescence with small Stokes shifts.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{SednevMykhailiukChoudhuryetal.2018, author = {Sednev, Maksim V. and Mykhailiuk, Volodymyr and Choudhury, Priyanka and Halang, Julia and Sloan, Katherine E. and Bohnsack, Markus T. and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {N\(^6\)-methyladenosine-sensitive RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes}, series = {Angewandte Chemie, International Edition}, journal = {Angewandte Chemie, International Edition}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201808745}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171753}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Deoxyribozymes are synthetic enzymes made of DNA that can catalyze the cleavage or formation of phosphodiester bonds and are useful tools for RNA biochemistry. Here we report new RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes to interrogate the methylation status of target RNAs, thereby providing an alternative method for the biochemical validation of RNA methylation sites containing N\(^6\)-methyladenosine, which is the most wide-spread and extensively investigated natural RNA modification. Using in vitro selection from random DNA, we developed deoxyribozymes that are sensitive to the presence of N\(^6\)-methyladenosine in RNA near the cleavage site. One class of these DNA enzymes shows faster cleavage of methylated RNA, while others are strongly inhibited by the modified nucleotide. The general applicability of the new deoxyribozymes is demonstrated for several examples of natural RNA sequences, including a lncRNA and a set of C/D box snoRNAs, which have been suggested to contain m\(^6\)A as a regulatory element that influences RNA folding and protein binding.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{SednevLiaqatHoebartner2022, author = {Sednev, Maksim V. and Liaqat, Anam and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {High-Throughput Activity Profiling of RNA-Cleaving DNA Catalysts by Deoxyribozyme Sequencing (DZ-seq)}, series = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, doi = {10.1021/jacs.1c12489}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258520}, year = {2022}, abstract = {RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes have found broad application as useful tools for RNA biochemistry. However, tedious in vitro selection procedures combined with laborious characterization of individual candidate catalysts hinder the discovery of novel catalytic motifs. Here, we present a new high-throughput sequencing method, DZ-seq, which directly measures activity and localizes cleavage sites of thousands of deoxyribozymes. DZ-seq exploits A-tailing followed by reverse transcription with an oligo-dT primer to capture the cleavage status and sequences of both deoxyribozyme and RNA substrate. We validated DZ-seq by conventional analytical methods and demonstrated its utility by discovery of novel deoxyribozymes that allow for cleaving challenging RNA targets or the analysis of RNA modification states.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{DietzschJayachandranMuelleretal.2023, author = {Dietzsch, Julia and Jayachandran, Ajay and Mueller, Stefan and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia and Brixner, Tobias}, title = {Excitonic coupling of RNA-templated merocyanine dimer studied by higher-order transient absorption spectroscopy}, series = {Chemical Communications}, journal = {Chemical Communications}, edition = {submitted version}, doi = {10.1039/D3CC02024J}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-327772}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We report the synthesis and spectroscopic analysis of RNA containing the barbituric acid merocyanine rBAM2 as a nucleobase surrogate. Incorporation into RNA strands by solid-phase synthesis leads to fluorescence enhancement compared to the free chromophore. In addition, linear absorption studies show the formation of an excitonically coupled H-type dimer in the hybridized duplex. Ultrafast third- and fifth-order transient absorption spectroscopy of this non-fluorescent dimer suggests immediate (sub-200 fs) exciton transfer and annihilation due to the proximity of the rBAM2 units.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{LambertVoelkerKochetal.2015, author = {Lambert, Christoph and V{\"o}lker, Sebastian F. and Koch, Federico and Schmiedel, Alexander and Holzapfel, Marco and Humeniuk, Alexander and R{\"o}hr, Merle I. S. and Mitric, Roland and Brixner, Tobias}, title = {Energy Transfer Between Squaraine Polymer Sections: From helix to zig-zag and All the Way Back}, series = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, doi = {10.1021/jacs.5b03644}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159607}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Joint experimental and theoretical study of the absorption spectra of squaraine polymers in solution provide evidence that two different conformations are present in solution: a helix and a zig-zag structure. This unique situation allows investigating ultrafast energy transfer processes between different structural segments within a single polymer chain in solution. The understanding of the underlying dynamics is of fundamental importance for the development of novel materials for light-harvesting and optoelectronic applications. We combine here femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy with time-resolved 2D electronic spectroscopy showing that ultrafast energy transfer within the squaraine polymer chains proceeds from initially excited helix segments to zig-zag segments or vice versa, depending on the solvent as well as on the excitation wavenumber. These observations contrast other conjugated polymers such as MEH-PPV where much slower intrachain energy transfer was reported. The reason for the very fast energy transfer in squaraine polymers is most likely a close matching of the density of states between donor and acceptor polymer segments because of very small reorganization energy in these cyanine-like chromophores.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{MaghamiScheitlHoebartner2019, author = {Maghami, Mohammad Ghaem and Scheitl, Carolin P. M. and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {Direct in vitro selection of trans-acting ribozymes for posttranscriptional, site-specific, and covalent fluorescent labeling of RNA}, series = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, doi = {10.1021/jacs.9b10531}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-192333}, year = {2019}, abstract = {General and efficient tools for site-specific fluorescent or bioorthogonal labeling of RNA are in high demand. Here, we report direct in vitro selection, characterization, and application of versatile trans-acting 2'-5' adenylyl transferase ribozymes for covalent and site-specific RNA labeling. The design of our partially structured RNA pool allowed for in vitro evolution of ribozymes that modify a predetermined nucleotide in cis (i.e. intramolecular reaction), and were then easily engineered for applications in trans (i.e. in an intermolecular setup). The resulting ribozymes are readily designed for specific target sites in small and large RNAs and accept a wide variety of N6-modified ATP analogues as small molecule substrates. The most efficient new ribozyme (FH14) shows excellent specificity towards its target sequence also in the context of total cellular RNA.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{SeitzJungnickelKleiberetal.2024, author = {Seitz, Florian and Jungnickel, Tina and Kleiber, Nicole and Kretschmer, Jens and Dietzsch, Julia and Adelmann, Juliane and Bohnsack, Katherine E. and Bohnsack, Markus T. and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {Atomic mutagenesis of N\(^6\)-methyladenosine reveals distinct recognition modes by human m\(^6\)A reader and eraser proteins}, series = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society}, doi = {10.1021/jacs.4c00626}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-352376}, year = {2024}, abstract = {N\(^6\)-methyladenosine (m\(^6\)A) is an important modified nucleoside in cellular RNA associated with multiple cellular processes and is implicated in diseases. The enzymes associated with the dynamic installation and removal of m\(^6\)A are heavily investigated targets for drug research, which requires detailed knowledge of the recognition modes of m\(^6\)A by proteins. Here, we use atomic mutagenesis of m\(^6\)A to systematically investigate the mechanisms of the two human m\(^6\)A demethylase enzymes FTO and ALKBH5 and the binding modes of YTH reader proteins YTHDF2/DC1/DC2. Atomic mutagenesis refers to atom-specific changes that are introduced by chemical synthesis, such as the replacement of nitrogen by carbon atoms. Synthetic RNA oligonucleotides containing site-specifically incorporated 1-deaza-, 3-deaza-, and 7-deaza-m\(^6\)A nucleosides were prepared by solid-phase synthesis and their RNA binding and demethylation by recombinant proteins were evaluated. We found distinct differences in substrate recognition and transformation and revealed structural preferences for the enzymatic activity. The deaza m\(^6\)A analogues introduced in this work will be useful probes for other proteins in m\(^6\)A research.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{NeitzHoebartner2023, author = {Neitz, Hermann and H{\"o}bartner, Claudia}, title = {A tolane-modified 5-ethynyluridine as a universal and fluorogenic photochemical DNA crosslinker}, series = {Chemical Communications}, journal = {Chemical Communications}, edition = {submitted version}, doi = {10.1039/D3CC03796G}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-328255}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We report the fluorescent nucleoside ToldU and its application as a photoresponsive crosslinker in three different DNA architectures with enhanced fluorescence emission of the crosslinked products. The fluorogenic ToldU crosslinking reaction enables the assembly of DNA polymers in a hybridization chain reaction for the concentration-dependent detectio of a specific DNA sequence.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{HoebartnerSteinmetzgerPalanisamyetal.2018, author = {H{\"o}bartner, Claudia and Steinmetzger, Christian and Palanisamy, Navaneethan and Gore, Kiran R.}, title = {A multicolor large Stokes shift fluorogen-activating RNA aptamer with cationic chromophores}, series = {Chemistry - A European Journal}, journal = {Chemistry - A European Journal}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201805882}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-174197}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Large Stokes shift (LSS) fluorescent proteins (FPs) exploit excited state proton transfer pathways to enable fluorescence emission from the phenolate intermediate of their internal 4 hydroxybenzylidene imidazolone (HBI) chromophore. An RNA aptamer named Chili mimics LSS FPs by inducing highly Stokes-shifted emission from several new green and red HBI analogs that are non-fluorescent when free in solution. The ligands are bound by the RNA in their protonated phenol form and feature a cationic aromatic side chain for increased RNA affinity and reduced magnesium dependence. In combination with oxidative functional-ization at the C2 position of the imidazolone, this strategy yielded DMHBO\(^+\), which binds to the Chili aptamer with a low-nanomolar K\(_D\). Because of its highly red-shifted fluorescence emission at 592 nm, the Chili-DMHBO\(^+\) complex is an ideal fluorescence donor for F{\"o}rster resonance energy transfer (FRET) to the rhodamine dye Atto 590 and will therefore find applications in FRET-based analytical RNA systems.}, language = {en} }