Detecting Nucleoside Post Enzymatic Cleavage Modifications in RNA Using Fast Product Ion Scanning Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

Nucleosides are building blocks for both DNA and RNA. Modified nucleosides occur in DNA, but they are particularly characteristic of tRNA, rRNA and eukaryotic mRNA. There are more than 79 different nucleosides presently known in tRNA, the most highly modified of the RNAs from all sources. The modified nucleosides have considerable structural variety, from simple methylation of either the base or the O-2 hydroxyl of ribose to much more complex types of modification in the base.