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F U Gast

Publications and source records attributed to F U Gast.

20 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Product analysis of in vitro ribosomal protein synthesis for the assessment of kinetic parameters.

For the characterization of the product distribution of in vitro ribosomal protein synthesis a new method is introduced in which radioactively labeled peptides are separated on a reversed-phase HPLC column and detected on line with a flow radioactivity monitor. Employing this procedure the kinetics of product formation under pre-steady-state conditions were measured under a variety of conditions. These measurements yield the intrinsic monomolecular rate constants for peptidyl transfer (greater than 20 s-1) and translocation (rate limiting for elongation). The usefulness of this technique for accuracy measurements is illustrated.

Carbon Radioisotopes↗

The elongation factor Tu from Escherichia coli, aminoacyl-tRNA, and guanosine tetraphosphate form a ternary complex which is bound by programmed ribosomes.

The interaction of the Escherichia coli elongation factor Tu guanosine tetraphosphate complex (EF-Tu ppGpp) with aminoacyl-tRNAs(aa-tRNA) was reinvestigated by gel filtration and hydrolysis protection experiments. These experiments show that EF-Tu X ppGpp like EF-Tu X GDP (Pingoud, A., Block, W., Wittinghofer, A., Wolf, H. & Fischer, E. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 11261-11267) forms a fairly stable complex with Phe-tRNAPhe, KAss being 0.6 X 10(5) M-1 at 25 degrees C. The binding of the EF-Tu X ppGpp X aa-tRNA complex to programmed ribosomes was investigated by a centrifugation technique. It is shown that this complex is bound codon-specific with KAss = 3 X 10(7) M-1 at 0 degrees C and that it stimulates peptidyl transfer. A numerical estimation of the intracellular concentration of EF-Tu X GTP X aa-tRNA and EF-Tu X ppGpp X aa-tRNA during normal growth and under the stringent response indicates that ppGpp accumulation does affect the EF-Tu X GTP X aa-tRNA concentration but does not lead to major depletion of this pool. Furthermore, due to the higher affinity of EF-Tu X GTP to aa-tRNA and of the ternary complex EF-Tu X GTP X aa-tRNA to the ribosome, EF-Tu X ppGpp X aa-tRNA binding to the ribosome is not significant. According to our measurements and calculations, therefore, a direct participation of EF-Tu in slowing down the rate of protein biosynthesis and improving its accuracy during amino acid starvation is not obvious.

Escherichia coli↗