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Unmodified uridines have been randomly replaced by 4-thiouridines in transfer RNAPhe (tRNAPhe) transcribed in a T7 RNA polymerase system. These 4-thiouridines serve as conjugation sites for attachment of the cleavage reagent 5-iodoacetamido-1,10-o-phenanthroline (IoP). In a reducing environment, when complexed with Cu2+, 1,10-o-phenanthroline causes cleavage of nearby nucleic acids. We show here that tRNA-phenanthroline (tRNA-oP) conjugates, when bound at the P-site of 70S ribosomes and 30S ribosomal subunits, caused cleavage of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) mainly in domains I and II of 16S rRNA. Some positions were cleaved only when tRNA-oP was bound to 70S ribosomes or to 30S ribosomal subunits. In domain I, most cleavage sites occurred in or near the 530 pseudoknot region. In domain II, most nucleotides cleaved were near the 690 region and the 790 region. The only positions cleaved in domain III were near the 1050 region. There were no discernible nucleotides cleaved near the 1400 (decoding) region. Our results corroborated results of others, which have shown these sites to be protected from chemical modification by tRNA binding or to be cross-linked to P-site-bound tRNA. Use of cleavage reagents tethered to tRNA provides evidence for additional regions of rRNA that may be proximal to bound tRNA.
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A leucine transfer RNA has been transformed into a serine transfer RNA by changing 12 nucleotides. This result indicates that a limited set of residues determine tRNA identity.
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Nucleotide sequences of 50 RNA codons recognized by amphibian and mammalian liver transfer RNA preparations were determined and compared with those recognized by Escherichia coli transfer RNA. Almost identical translations were obtained with transfer RNA from guinea pig liver, Xenopus laevis liver (South African clawed toad), and E. coli. However, guinea pig and Xenopus transfer RNA differ markedly from E. coli transfer RNA in relative response to certain trinucleotides. Transfer RNA from mammalian liver, amphibian liver, and amphibian muscle respond similarly to trinucleotide codons. Thus the genetic code is essentially universal, but transfer RNA from one organism may differ from that of another in relative response to some codons.
Primer- and promoter-dependent transcription of the synthesis gene had been studied. Primer-dependent transcription gave, as a major product, an end-to-end transcript which was strand-specific. The transcript was characterized rigorously by two-dimensional separation and analysis of the oligonucleotides formed on digestion with T1-RNase and pancreatic RNase and by nearest neighbor analyses of the oligonucleotides obtained when different alpha-32P-labeled ribonucleoside triphosphates were used as substrates. Minor products accompanying the major transcript were characterized similarly. The major transcript, when treated with an Escherichia coli S-100 extract, was processed to the tRNATyr with correct 5'- and 3'-ends. The nucleolytic cleavages occurring at the 3'-end were characterized. In promoter-dependent transcription, transcription of a restriction fragment containing phi80psu+III gene and the synthetic gene with and without the promoter were compared. Transcription of the synthetic gene was promoter-dependent and strand-specific, the initiation of transcription occurring at the same point as previously found in vivo. Although the synthetic gene contains only 16 base pairs corresponding to the natural sequence following the C-C-A end, processing of the transcript at the 3'-end occurred normally, the endonucleolytic cleavage being followed by exonucleolytic cleavages. The products of promoter-dependent transcription were completely characterized. An examination of the base modifications of the primary transcript during treatment of the latter with E. coli S-100 extract showed couplete modification of uridine to pseudouridine and partial methylation of uridine to ribosylthymine in TpsiCG sequence and partial formation of pseudouridine in the anticodon loop. However, hardly any formation of 2'-O-methylguanosine or of 2-methylthio-6-isopentenyl adenosine could be detected.
This paper reports the first example of a triple aminoacylation specificity of a viral tRNA-like domain. These findings were based on structural studies on the brome mosaic virus (BMV) tRNA-like domain (Felden et al., 1994, J. Mol. Biol. 235, 508-531) together with knowledge on tRNA aminoacylation identity rules suggesting potential histidinylation and valylation capacities of the viral RNA in addition to its already known tyrosylation ability. Here, both predictions are demonstrated by in vitro aminoacylation assays. Kinetic parameters of histidinylation and valylation of BMV tRNA-like structure have been determined and compared to those of the corresponding tRNA transcripts and to the tyrosylation capacity of the molecule. The influence of experimental conditions on aminoacylation reactions was also studied. The novel aminoacylation capacities of BMV tRNA-like domain support its already reported three-dimensional fold and illustrate the predictive potential of modeling data. Biological necessity of specific or non specific aminoacylation will be discussed.
The structural requirements of E. coli formylmethionine tRNA for aminoacylation have been examined by chemical modification of the tRNA, followed by separation of the modified molecules into active and inactive components. Photooxidation of tRNA(fMet) at 50 degrees in the presence of methylene blue results in modification of two guanosine (G) residues in the acceptor stem, at positions no. 2 and no. 71 from the 5'-phosphate terminus. Both of these modifications are present in inactive molecules, but only the G residue at position no. 2 is modified in the acceptor stem of active molecules. Loss of methionine acceptance occurs with first-order kinetics, indicating that inactivation by modification of G residue no. 71 is independent of any other modifications taking place under these conditions. The presence of a modified G residue at position no. 2 in the acceptor stem of active photooxidized molecules shows that disruption of normal base-pairing in this region is not sufficient to inactivate tRNA(fMet). These data indicate that the inactivating modification at position no. 71 is lethal due to a specific alteration in the nucleotide base, rather than simply as a result of breaking a hydrogen-bonded base pair in the acceptor stem.
Bean nuclear genes for tRNA(Pro), tRNA(Thr) and tRNA(Leu) were isolated. Expression of the tRNA(Pro) genes was demonstrated in vivo and sequence analysis suggested amplification of the tRNA(Pro) gene copy number through duplication of a gene cluster at the same locus of the bean genome. The two tRNA(Thr) genes isolated were actively transcribed and their transcripts processed in a HeLa cell system. In vivo expression tests of these genes and aminoacylation assays of the corresponding in vitro transcripts showed the presence of identity determinants in the anticodon of plant tRNA(Thr). The tRNA(Leu) gene was not expressed due to deviation from the consensus in the internal B-box promoter. The same sequence deviation also prevented aminoacylation of the corresponding in vitro transcript. This tRNA(Leu) however exists in plants and is synthesized from another gene with a consensus B-box promoter. Plant mitochondria import from the cytosol a number of nucleus-encoded tRNAs, including tRNA(Leu) and tRNA(Thr). From the available sequence data, we could not identify any conserved structural motif characteristic for the nucleus-encoded tRNAs imported into plant mitochondria, either in the tRNAs, or in the gene flanking sequences. These results suggest that recognition of tRNAs for import is idiosyncratic and likely to depend on protein/RNA interactions that are specific to each tRNA or each isoacceptor group.
The hydrogen-bonded NH resonances of Baker's yeast tRNAphe in H2O solution with Mg++ have been measured by a 360 MHz spectrometer at 23 degrees C. Totally, fifteen peaks and one shoulder can be resolved which represent 25 +/- 1 protons. Based on the refined atomic coordinates of the tRNAphe in the orthorhombic crystal, on the recent advances in the distance dependence of the ring-current magnetic field effects and on the adopted values for the isolated hydrogen-bonded NH resonances, a computed spectrum consisting of 23 protons was constructed. A quantitative comparison by computer was made between the computed spectrum and the spectrum simulated from the observed spectrum. These two spectra are closely similar but not identical. We suggest that the conformation of yeast tRNAphe in aqueous solution is closely similar but not identical to that found in the crystal, especially in the T psi C region and D region. Also the NH resonances in 3-4 proposed hydrogen bonds (most likely for tertiary structure) may exchange very rapidly in aqueous solution.
The sequence of a 1,427 base pair restriction fragment, HaeIII fragment 6, of the ciliate protozoan Tetrahymena mitochondrial DNA, is presented. The first 780 nucleotide sequence aligns well with the terminal segment of the large rDNA sequence of Paramecium mitochondria. Immediately abutting this rDNA termination sequence, a tRNA sequence was found with anticodon UAA for leucine. The derived tRNA sequence is 81 bases long without the 3' CCA end, has a high G + C content of 48.1%, and can be folded into a normal cloverleaf structure with mostly conserved bases and normal stems and loops. The tRNA sequence found at an analogous position of the Paramecium mitochondrial DNA is tRNA(tyr). Following a highly A + T rich sequence of 300 base pairs, another tRNA-like sequence is present; this putative tRNA has only 67 bases with anticodon CAT (Met) and forms standard aminoacyl, anticodon and T psi C stems with a conventional T psi C loop. However, the DHU loop and stem are unusually short and irregular; the base at position 8 is G instead of T; and the base following the anticodon, which is normally a purine, is T. The significance of these tRNA structures is discussed.
Four transfer RNA crystals, the monoclinic and orthorhombic forms of yeast tRNA(Phe) as well as forms A and B of yeast tRNA(Asp), have been submitted to the same restrained least-squares refinement program and refined to an R factor well below 20% for about 4500 reflections between 10 and 3 A. In yeast tRNA(Asp) crystals the molecules exist as dimers with base pairings of the anticodon (AC) triplets and labilization of the tertiary interaction between one invariant guanine of the dihydrouridine (D) loop and the invariant cytosine of the thymine (T) loop (G19-C56). In yeast tRNA(Phe) crystals, the molecules exist as monomers with only weak intermolecular packing contacts between symmetry-related molecules. Despite this, the tertiary folds of the L-shaped tRNA structures are identical when allowance is made for base sequence changes between tRNA(Phe) and tRNA(Asp). However, the relative mobilities of two regions are inverse in the two structures with the AC loop more mobile than the D loop in tRNA(Phe) and the D loop more mobile than the AC loop in tRNA(Asp). In addition, the T loop becomes mobile in tRNA(Asp). The present refinements were performed to exclude packing effects or refinement bias as possible sources of such differential dynamic behavior. It is concluded that the transfer of flexibility from the anticodon to the D- and T-loop region in tRNA(Asp) is not a crystal-line artefact. Further, analysis of the four structures supports a mechanism for the flexibility transfer through base stacking in the AC loop and concomitant variations in twist angles between base pairs of the anticodon helix which propagate up to the D- and T-loop region.
Crystal structures of the 30S ribosomal subunit in complex with messenger RNA and cognate transfer RNA in the A site, both in the presence and absence of the antibiotic paromomycin, have been solved at between 3.1 and 3.3 angstroms resolution. Cognate transfer RNA (tRNA) binding induces global domain movements of the 30S subunit and changes in the conformation of the universally conserved and essential bases A1492, A1493, and G530 of 16S RNA. These bases interact intimately with the minor groove of the first two base pairs between the codon and anticodon, thus sensing Watson-Crick base-pairing geometry and discriminating against near-cognate tRNA. The third, or "wobble," position of the codon is free to accommodate certain noncanonical base pairs. By partially inducing these structural changes, paromomycin facilitates binding of near-cognate tRNAs.
Eukaryotic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases have dispensable extensions appended at the amino- or carboxyl-terminus as compared to their bacterial counterparts. While a synthetic peptide corresponding to the basic amino-terminal extension in yeast Asp-tRNA synthetase binds to DNA, the extension in the intact protein evidently binds to tRNA and enhances the tRNA specificity of Asp-tRNA synthetase. On the other hand, the amino-terminal extension in human Asp-tRNA synthetase, both within the intact protein and as a synthetic peptide, binds to tRNA. Here, the tRNA binding of a synthetic peptide, hKRS(Arg(25)-Glu(42)), corresponding to the amino-terminal extension of human Lys-tRNA synthetase (hKRS) was analyzed. This basic peptide bound to tRNA(Phe) and the apparent-binding constant increased with increasing concentrations of Mg(2+). The hKRS peptide also bound to DNA and polyphosphate; however, the apparent DNA-binding constants decreased at increasing concentrations of Mg(2+). The ability of the hKRS peptide to adopt alpha-helical conformation was demonstrated by NMR and circular dichroism. A Lys-rich peptide derived from the elongation factor 1alpha was also examined and bound to DNA but not to tRNA.
Phylogenetic trees of transfer RNA specific for phenylalanine, methionine initiator glycine and valine are constructed. Although the exact relationships between taxa cannot be obtained from the mere analysis of the sequences some conclusions can be drawn about the evolution of this molecule.