Nucleoside-modified mRNA technologies necessarily incorporate N1-methylpseudouridine into the mRNA molecules to prevent over-stimulation of cytoplasmic RNA sensors. Despite this modification, mRNA concentrations remain mostly determined through measurement of UV absorbance at 260 nm wavelength (A260). Herein, we report that the N1-methylpseudouridine absorbs approximately 40% less UV light at 260 nm than uridine, and its incorporation into mRNAs leads to the under-estimation of nucleoside-modified mRNA concentrations, with 5-15% error, in a mRNA sequence dependent manner. We therefore examined the RNA quantification methods and developed the mRNACalc web server. It accounts for the molar absorption coefficient of modified nucleotides at 260 nm wavelength, the RNA composition of the mRNA and the A260 of the mRNA sample to enable accurate quantification of nucleoside-modified mRNAs. The webserver is freely available at https:\\www.mrnacalc.com.
Minor structural modifications to the DNA and RNA nucleobases have a significant effect on their excited state dynamics and electronic relaxation pathways.<b> </b>In this study, the excited state dynamics of 7-deazaguanosine and guanosine 5’-monophosphate are investigated in aqueous solution using femtosecond broadband transient absorption spectroscopy following excitation at 267 nm. The transient absorption spectra are collected under experimental conditions that eliminate the requirement to correct the data for the formation of hydrated electrons, resulting from the two-photon ionization of the solvent. The data is fitted satisfactorily using a two-component sequential kinetic model, yielding lifetimes of 210 ± 50 fs and 1.80 ± 0.02 ps, and 682 ± 40 fs and 1.4 ± 0.03 ps, for 7-deazaguanosine and guanosine 5’-monophosphate, respectively. By analyzing the results from steady-state, time-resolved, and computational calculations, the following relaxation mechanism is proposed for 7-deazaguanosine, S<sub>2</sub>(L<sub>b</sub>) ® S<sub>1</sub>(L<sub>a</sub>) ® S<sub>0</sub>, whereas a S<sub>2</sub>(L<sub>b</sub>) ® S<sub>1</sub>(L<sub>a</sub>) ® S<sub>0</sub>(hot)<sub> </sub>® S<sub>0 </sub>relaxation mechanism<sub> </sub>is proposed for guanosine 5’-monophosphate. Interestingly, longer lifetimes for both the L<sub>b</sub> ® L<sub>a</sub> and the L<sub>a</sub> ® S<sub>0</sub> internal conversion pathways are obtained for 7-deazaguanosine compare to guanosine 5’-monophosphate. Collectively, the results demonstrate that substitution of a single nitrogen for a methine (C-H) group at position seven of the guanine moiety stabilizes the <sup>1</sup>pp* L<sub>b</sub> and L<sub>a</sub> states and alters the topology of their potential energy surfaces in such a way that the population dynamics of both internal conversion pathways in 7-deazaguanosine are significantly slowed down compared to those in guanosine 5’-monophosphate.
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