A mass spectrometry-based method for comprehensive quantitative determination of post-transcriptional RNA modifications: the complete chemical structure of Schizosaccharomyces pombe ribosomal RNAs

We present a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based method for comprehensive quantitative identification of post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) of RNA. We incorporated an in vitro-transcribed, heavy isotope-labeled reference RNA into a sample RNA solution, digested the mixture with a number of RNases and detected the post-transcriptionally modified oligonucleotides quantitatively based on shifts in retention time and the MS signal in subsequent LC-MS. This allowed the determination and quantitation of all PTMs in Schizosaccharomyces pombe ribosomal (r)RNAs and generated the first complete PTM maps of eukaryotic rRNAs at single-nucleotide resolution. There were 122 modified sites, most of which appear to locate at the interface of ribosomal subunits where translation takes place. We also identified PTMs at specific locations in rRNAs that were altered in response to growth conditions of yeast cells, suggesting that the cells coordinately regulate the modification levels of RNA.