A bifunctional chemical signature enabling RNA 4-thiouridine enrichment sequencing with single-base resolution

Abstract

Both sequence enrichment and base resolution are essential for accurate sequencing analysis of low-abundance RNA. Yet they are hindered by the lack of molecular tools. Here we report a bifunctional chemical signature for RNA 4-thiouridine (4sU) enrichment sequencing with single-base resolution. This chemical signature is designed for specific 4sU labeling with two functional parts. One part is a distal alkynyl group for the biotin-assisted pulldown enrichment of target molecules via click chemistry crosslinking. The other part is a –NH group proximal to the pyrimidine ring of 4sU. It allows 4sU-to-cytosine transition during the polymerase-catalyzed extension reaction based on altering hydrogen-bonding patterns. Ultimately, the 4sU-containing RNA molecules can be enriched and accurately analyzed by single-base resolution sequencing. The proposed method also holds great potential to investigate transcriptome dynamics integrated with high-throughput sequencing.