Role of Arc1p in the modulation of yeast glutamyl-tRNA synthetase activity

Yeast methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS) and glutamyl-tRNA synthetase (GluRS) possess N-terminal extensions that bind the cofactor Arc1p in trans. The strength of GluRS-Arc1p interaction is high enough to allow copurification of the two macromolecules in a 1:1 ratio, in contrast to MetRS. Deletion analysis from the C-terminal end of the GluRS appendix combined with previous N-terminal deletions of GluRS allows restriction of the Arc1p binding site to the 110-170 amino acid region of GluRS. This region has been shown to correspond to a novel protein-protein interaction domain present in both GluRS and Arc1p but not in MetRS [Galani, K., Grosshans, H., Deinert, K., Hurt, E. C., and Simos, G. (2001) EMBO J. 20, 6889-6898]. The GluRS apoenzyme fails to show significant kinetics of tRNA aminoacylation and charges unfractionated yeast tRNA at a level 10-fold reduced compared to Arc1p-bound GluRS. The Km values for tRNA Glu measured in the ATP-PPi exchange were similar for the two forms of GluRS, whereas kcat is increased 2-fold in the presence of Arc1p. Band-shift analysis revealed a 100-fold increase in tRNA binding affinity when Arc1p is bound to GluRS. This increase requires the RNA binding properties of the full-length Arc1p since Arc1p N domain leaves the K d of GluRS for tRNA unchanged. Transcripts of yeast tRNA Glu were poor substrates for measuring tRNA aminoacylation and could not be used to clarify whether Arc1p has a specific effect on the tRNA charging reaction

Slow Solvation Dynamics at the Active Site of an Enzyme: Implications for Catalysis

Solvation dynamics at the active site of an enzyme, glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase (GlnRS), was studied using a fluorescence probe, acrylodan, site-specifically attached at cysteine residue C229, near the active site. The picosecond time-dependent fluorescence Stokes shift indicates slow solvation dynamics at the active site of the enzyme, in the absence of any substrate. The solvation dynamics becomes still slower when the substrate (glutamine or tRNAGln) binds to the enzyme. A mutant Y211H-GlnRS was constructed in which the glutamine binding site is disrupted. The mutant Y211H-GlnRS labeled at C229 with acrylodan exhibited significantly different solvent relaxation, thus demonstrating that the slow dynamics is indeed associated with the active site. Implications for catalysis and specificity have been discussed