Abstract
Effects of divalent cations on self-splicing inhibition by the antibiotic spectinomycin of the phage T4 thymidylate synthase intron (td) have been investigated. $Ca^{2+}$ ion at 1mM concentration suppressed splicing inhibition of spectinomycin by 10% and 50 ${\mu}M\;Co^{2+}$ ion also suppressed splicing inhibition of specinomycin by 10%. $Mg^{2+}$ ion at 6 mM concentration decreased splicing inhibition of spectinomycin by 42% while $Mn^{2+}$ ion decreased the splicing inhibition by 10%. $Zn^{2+}$ ion at 10 uM concentration lowered the splicing inhibition by spectinomycin of 15%. Of all divalent cations tested, $Mg^{2+}$ ion was the most effective in suppressing splicing inhibition by specinomycin whereas $Ca^{2+}$ ion was the least effective. The results suggest that spectinomycin may interact with specific and functional $Mg^{2+}$-binding sites within intron RNA that lead to a displacement of $Mg^{2+}$ essential for catalytic activity.