Plasmodium apicoplast tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase recognizes an unusual, simplified identity set in cognate tRNATyr

The life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, the agent responsible for malaria, depends on both cytosolic and apicoplast translation fidelity. Apicoplast aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) are bacterial-like enzymes devoted to organellar tRNA aminoacylation. They are all encoded by the nuclear genome and are translocated into the apicoplast only after cytosolic biosynthesis. Apicoplast aaRSs contain numerous idiosyncratic sequence insertions: An understanding of the roles of these insertions has remained elusive and they hinder efforts to heterologously overexpress these proteins. Moreover, the A/T rich content of the Plasmodium genome leads to A/U rich apicoplast tRNA substrates that display structural plasticity. Here, we focus on the P. falciparum apicoplast tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (Pf-apiTyrRS) and its cognate tRNATyr substrate (Pf-apitRNATyr). Cloning and expression strategies used to obtain an active and functional recombinant Pf-apiTyrRS are reported. Functional analyses established that only three weak identity elements in the apitRNATyr promote specific recognition by the cognate Pf-apiTyrRS and that positive identity elements usually found in the tRNATyr acceptor stem are excluded from this set. This finding brings to light an unusual behavior for a tRNATyr aminoacylation system and suggests that Pf-apiTyrRS uses primarily negative recognition elements to direct tyrosylation specificity.publishe

Binding of human SLBP on the 3′-UTR of histone precursor H4-12 mRNA induces structural rearrangements that enable U7 snRNA anchoring

In metazoans, cell-cycle-dependent histones are produced from poly(A)-lacking mRNAs. The 3′ end of histone mRNAs is formed by an endonucleolytic cleavage of longer precursors between a conserved stem–loop structure and a purine-rich histone downstream element (HDE). The cleavage requires at least two trans-acting factors: the stem–loop binding protein (SLBP), which binds to the stem–loop and the U7 snRNP, which anchors to histone pre-mRNAs by annealing to the HDE. Using RNA structure-probing techniques, we determined the secondary structure of the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of mouse histone pre-mRNAs H4–12, H1t and H2a–614. Surprisingly, the HDE is embedded in hairpin structures and is therefore not easily accessible for U7 snRNP anchoring. Probing of the 3′-UTR in complex with SLBP revealed structural rearrangements leading to an overall opening of the structure especially at the level of the HDE. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that the SLBP-induced opening of HDE actually facilitates U7 snRNA anchoring on the histone H4–12 pre-mRNAs 3′ end. These results suggest that initial binding of the SLBP functions in making the HDE more accessible for U7 snRNA anchoring

Aminoacylated tmRNA from Escherichia coli interacts with prokaryotic elongation factor Tu.

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Human mitochondrial TyrRS disobeys the tyrosine identity rules

Human tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase from mitochondria (mt-TyrRS) presents dual sequence features characteristic of eubacterial and archaeal TyrRSs, especially in the region containing amino acids recognizing the N1-N72 tyrosine identity pair. This would imply that human mt-TyrRS has lost the capacity to discriminate between the G1-C72 pair typical of eubacterial and mitochondrial tRNA(Tyr) and the reverse pair C1-G72 present in archaeal and eukaryal tRNA(Tyr). This expectation was verified by a functional analysis of wild-type or mutated tRNA(Tyr) molecules, showing that mt-TyrRS aminoacylates with similar catalytic efficiency its cognate tRNA(Tyr) with G1-C72 and its mutated version with C1-G72. This provides the first example of a TyrRS lacking specificity toward N1-N72 and thus of a TyrRS disobeying the identity rules. Sequence comparisons of mt-TyrRSs across phylogeny suggest that the functional behavior of the human mt-TyrRS is conserved among all vertebrate mt-TyrRSs

Decreased aminoacylation in pathology-related mutants of mitochondrial tRNATyr is associated with structural perturbations in tRNA architecture

A growing number of human pathologies are ascribed to mutations in mitochondrial tRNA genes. Here, we report biochemical investigations on three mt-tRNATyr molecules with point substitutions associated with diseases. The mutations occur in the atypical T- and D-loops at positions homologous to those involved in the tertiary interaction network of canonical tRNAs. They do not correspond to tyrosine identity positions and likely do not contact the mitochondrial tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase during the aminoacylation process. The impact of these substitutions on mt-tRNATyr tyrosylation and structure was investigated using the corresponding tRNA transcripts. In vitro tyrosylation efficiency is decreased 600-fold for mutant A22G (mitochondrial gene mutation T5874C), 40-fold for G15A (C5877T), and is without significant effect on U54C (A5843G). Comparative solution probings with lead and nucleases on mutant and wild-type tRNATyr molecules reveal a greater sensitivity to single-strand specific probes for mutants G15A and A22G. For both transcripts, the mutation triggers a structural destabilization in the D-loop that propagates toward the anticodon arm and thus hinders efficient tyrosylation. Further probing analysis combined with phylogenetic data support the participation of G15 and A22 in the tertiary network of human mt-tRNATyr via nonclassical Watson–Crick G15–C48 and G13–A22 pairings. In contrast, the pathogenic effect of the tyrosylable mutant U54C, where structure is only marginally affected, has to be sought at another level of the tRNATyr life cycle

Atypical archaeal tRNA pyrrolysine transcript behaves towards EF-Tu as a typical elongator tRNA

The newly discovered tRNA(Pyl) is involved in specific incorporation of pyrrolysine in the active site of methylamine methyltransferases in the archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri. In solution probing experiments, a transcript derived from tRNA(Pyl) displays a secondary fold slightly different from the canonical cloverleaf and interestingly similar to that of bovine mitochondrial tRNA(Ser)(uga). Aminoacylation of tRNA(Pyl) transcript by a typical class II synthetase, LysRS from yeast, was possible when its amber anticodon CUA was mutated into a lysine UUU anticodon. Hydrolysis protection assays show that lysylated tRNA(Pyl) can be recognized by bacterial elongation factor. This indicates that no antideterminant sequence is present in the body of the tRNA(Pyl) transcript to prevent it from interacting with EF-Tu, in contrast with the otherwise functionally similar tRNA(Sec) that mediates selenocysteine incorporation

Virus-Encoded Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases: Structural and Functional Characterization of Mimivirus TyrRS and MetRS▿

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are pivotal in determining how the genetic code is translated in amino acids and in providing the substrate for protein synthesis. As such, they fulfill a key role in a process universally conserved in all cellular organisms from their most complex to their most reduced parasitic forms. In contrast, even complex viruses were not found to encode much translation machinery, with the exception of isolated components such as tRNAs. In this context, the discovery of four aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases encoded in the genome of mimivirus together with a full set of translation initiation, elongation, and termination factors appeared to blur what was once a clear frontier between the cellular and viral world. Functional studies of two mimivirus tRNA synthetases confirmed the MetRS specificity for methionine and the TyrRS specificity for tyrosine and conformity with the identity rules for tRNATyr for archea/eukarya. The atomic structure of the mimivirus tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase in complex with tyrosinol exhibits the typical fold and active-site organization of archaeal-type TyrRS. However, the viral enzyme presents a unique dimeric conformation and significant differences in its anticodon binding site. The present work suggests that mimivirus aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases function as regular translation enzymes in infected amoebas. Their phylogenetic classification does not suggest that they have been acquired recently by horizontal gene transfer from a cellular host but rather militates in favor of an intricate evolutionary relationship between large DNA viruses and ancestral eukaryotes

tRNA-Like Structure Regulates Translation of Brome Mosaic Virus RNA

For various groups of plant viruses, the genomic RNAs end with a tRNA-like structure (TLS) instead of the 3′ poly(A) tail of common mRNAs. The actual function of these TLSs has long been enigmatic. Recently, however, it became clear that for turnip yellow mosaic virus, a tymovirus, the valylated TLS(TYMV) of the single genomic RNA functions as a bait for host ribosomes and directs them to the internal initiation site of translation (with N-terminal valine) of the second open reading frame for the polyprotein. This discovery prompted us to investigate whether the much larger TLSs of a different genus of viruses have a comparable function in translation. Brome mosaic virus (BMV), a bromovirus, has a tripartite RNA genome with a subgenomic RNA4 for coat protein expression. All four RNAs carry a highly conserved and bulky 3′ TLS(BMV) (about 200 nucleotides) with determinants for tyrosylation. We discovered TLS(BMV)-catalyzed self-tyrosylation of the tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase but could not clearly detect tyrosine incorporation into any virus-encoded protein. We established that BMV proteins do not need TLS(BMV) tyrosylation for their initiation. However, disruption of the TLSs strongly reduced the translation of genomic RNA1, RNA2, and less strongly, RNA3, whereas coat protein expression from RNA4 remained unaffected. This aberrant translation could be partially restored by providing the TLS(BMV) in trans. Intriguingly, a subdomain of the TLS(BMV) could even almost fully restore translation to the original pattern. We discuss here a model with a central and dominant role for the TLS(BMV) during the BMV infection cycle