Chemical accessibility of the 4.5S RNA in spinach chloroplast ribosomes.

We have examined the accessibility to diethylpyrocarbonate of spinach chloroplast 4.5S ribosomal RNA when free and when it is part of the ribosomal structure. The modifications in free 4.5S RNA were found mostly in single-stranded regions of the secondary structure model proposed in our previous paper (Kumagai, I. et al. (1982) J.B.C. 257, 12924-28): adenines at positions 17, 19, 33, 36, 54, 55, 60, 64, 68, 72, 77, 86 and 87 were identified as the reactive residues. On the other hand, in 4.5S RNA in 70S ribosomes or 50S subunits, adenine 33 was exclusively modified, and its reactivity was much higher than in free 4.5S RNA. This highly accessible A33 of spinach 4.5S RNA is located within a characteristic seven nucleotide sequence, which is found in the 4.5S rRNAs from spinach, tobacco and a fern but deleted in 4.5S RNAs from maize and wheat.