Chemical structure of a new modified nucleoside located in the anticodon of Bombyx mori glycine tRNA2.

There are two species of glycine tRNA, tRNA(1Gly) and tRNA(2Gly), in the posterior silk glands of Bombyx mori. The first positions of their anticodons are guanosine and an unknown nucleoside for tRNA(1Gly) and tRNA(2Gly), respectively. This new nucleoside was isolated and the chemical structure was analyzed by thin layer chromatography and by UV, 1H-NMR, field desorption mass, and ORD spectroscopic measurements. The structure characterized by physical methods was finally confirmed by synthesis to be 5-((S)-carboxy(hydroxy) methyl)uridine methyl ester.