Genetically encoded fluorescent ribonucleic acids (RNAs) have diverse applications, including imaging RNA trafficking and as a component of RNA-based sensors that exhibit fluorescence upon binding small molecules in live cells. These RNAs include the Spinach and Spinach2 aptamers, which bind and activate the fluorescence of fluorophores similar to that found in green fluorescent protein. Although additional highly fluorescent RNA–fluorophore complexes would extend the utility of this technology, the identification of novel RNA–fluorophore complexes is difficult. Current approaches select aptamers on the basis of their ability to bind fluorophores, even though fluorophore binding alone is not sufficient to activate fluorescence. Additionally, aptamers require extensive mutagenesis to efficiently fold and exhibit fluorescence in living cells. Here we describe a platform for rapid generation of highly fluorescent RNA–fluorophore complexes that are optimized for function in cells. This procedure involves selection of aptamers on the basis of their binding to fluorophores, coupled with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) of millions of aptamers expressed in Escherichia coli. Promising aptamers are then further optimized using a FACS-based directed evolution approach. Using this approach, we identified several novel aptamers, including a 49-nt aptamer, Broccoli. Broccoli binds and activates the fluorescence of (Z)-4-(3,5-difluoro-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-1,2-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-one. Broccoli shows robust folding and green fluorescence in cells, and increased fluorescence relative to Spinach2. This reflects, in part, improved folding in the presence of low cytosolic magnesium concentrations. Thus, this novel fluorescence-based selection approach simplifies the generation of aptamers that are optimized for expression and performance in living cells.

Spinach and Spinach2 are RNA aptamers that can be used for the genetic encoding of fluorescent RNA. Spinach2 binds and activates the fluorescence of (Z)-4-(3,5-difluoro-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-1,2-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-one (DFHBI), allowing the dynamic localizations of Spinach2-tagged RNAs to be imaged in live cells. The spectral properties of Spinach2 are limited by DFHBI, which produces fluorescence that is bluish-green and is not optimized for filters commonly used in fluorescence microscopes. Here we characterize the structural features that are required for fluorophore binding to Spinach2 and describe novel fluorophores that bind and are switched to a fluorescent state by Spinach2. These diverse Spinach2–fluorophore complexes exhibit fluorescence that is more compatible with existing microscopy filter sets and allows Spinach2-tagged constructs to be imaged with either GFP or YFP filter cubes. Thus, these “plug-and-play” fluorophores allow the spectral properties of Spinach2 to be altered on the basis of the specific spectral needs of the experiment.

The Fe(II)- and alpha-ketoglutarate (alphaKG)-dependent dioxygenases activate O2 for cleavage of unactivated C-H bonds in their substrates. The key intermediate that abstracts hydrogen in the reaction of taurine:alphaKG dioxygenase (TauD), a member of this enzyme family, was recently characterized. The intermediate, denoted J, was shown to contain an iron(IV)-oxo unit. Other important structural features of J, such as the number, identity, and disposition of ligands in the Fe(IV) coordination sphere, are not yet understood. To probe these important structural features, a series of models for J with the Fe(IV) ion coordinated by the expected two imidazole (from His99 and His255), two carboxylate (succinate and Asp101), and oxo ligands have been generated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and spectroscopic parameters (Mössbauer isomer shift, quadrupole splitting, and asymmetry parameter, 57Fe hyperfine coupling tensor, and zero field splitting parameters, D and E/D) have been calculated for each model. The calculated parameters of distorted octahedral models for J, in which one of the carboxylates serves as a monodentate ligand and the other as a bidentate ligand, and a trigonal bipyramidal model, in which both carboxylates serve as monodentate ligands, agree well with the experimental parameters, whereas the calculated parameters of a square pyramidal model, in which the oxo ligand is in the equatorial plane, are inconsistent with the data. Similar analysis of the Fe(IV) complex generated in the variant protein with His99, the residue that contributes the imidazole ligand cis to the oxo group, replaced by alanine suggests that the deleted imidazole is replaced by a water ligand. This work lends credence to the idea that the combination of Mössbauer spectroscopy and DFT calculations can provide detailed structural information for reactive intermediates in the catalytic cycles of iron enzymes.

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SUMMARY RNA-modifying enzymes are difficult to assay due to the absence of fluorometric substrates. Here we show that the Broccoli, a previously reported fluorescent RNA-dye complex, can be modified to contain N6-methyladenosine, a prevalent mRNA base modification. Methylated Broccoli is nonfluorescent, but upon demethylation by the RNA demethylases Fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) or ALKBH5 binds and activates the fluorescence of its cognate fluorophore. We describe a high-throughput screen for FTO inhibitors using the fluorogenic methylated Broccoli substrate HTS assay performs robustly with a Z’-factor > 0.8 in the LOPAC1280 library. This allowed the identification of novel high-affinity FTO inhibitors. Several of these compounds were selective for FTO over the related demethylase, ALKBH5, and increase methylation of endogenous FTO target mRNAs in cells. Lastly, we show that Broccoli can be modified to contain other base modifications, suggesting that this approach could be generally applicable for assaying diverse RNA-modifying enzymes.