SGD Paper Help



Senger B, et al.  (1995) The presence of a D-stem but not a T-stem is essential for triggering aminoacylation upon anticodon binding in yeast methionine tRNA. J Mol Biol 249(1):45-58

Abstract: Dissection of the yeast cytoplasmic initiator tRNA(Met) into two helical domains, the T psi C acceptor and anticodon minihelices, failed to show anminoacylation and binding of the acceptor minihelix by the yeast methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS) even in the presence of the anticodon minihelix. In contrast, based on the measure of the inhibition constant Ki, the anticodon minihelix carrying the methionine anticodon CAU is specifically bound to the synthetase and with an affinity comparable to that of the full-length tRNA. The yeast tRNA(Met) acceptor and anticodon minihelices were covalently linked using the central core sequences of either bovine mitochondrial tRNA(Ser) (AGY) lacking a D-stem or initiator tRNA(Met) from Caenorhabditis elegans lacking a T-stem. Based on modeling studies of analogous constructs performed by others, we assume that the folding and distance between the anticodon and acceptor ends of these hybrid tRNAs are identical to that of canonical tRNA. The three-quarter molecule, which includes the T-stem, has aminoacylation activity significantly more than an acceptor minihelix, while the acceptor stem/anticodon-D stem biloop has near wild-type aminoacylation activity. These results suggest that the high selectivity of the anticodon bases in tRNA(Met) depends upon the tRNA L-shape conformation and the presence ofa D-arm. Protein contacts with the D-arm phosphate backbone are required for connecting anticodon recognition with the active site. These interactions probably contribute to fine tune the position of the acceptor end in the active site, allowing entry into the transition state of aminoacylation upon anticodon binding. The importance of an L structure for recognition of tRNA(Met) by yeast MetRS was also deduced from mutations of tertiary interactions known to play a general role in tRNA folding.

Status: Published Type: Journal Article PubMed ID: 7776375

Topics addressed in this paper

  • To find other papers on a gene and topic, click on the colored ball in the appropriate box.
  • displays other papers with information about that topic for that gene.
  • displays other papers in SGD that are associated with that topic.
    The topic is addressed in these papers but does not describe a specific gene or chromosomal feature.
  • To go to the Locus page for a gene, click on the gene name.
Topics Genes linked to topics
MES1
Function/Process blue ball
Primary Literature blue ball
Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions blue ball
Protein/Nucleic Acid Structure blue ball
Substrates/Ligands/Cofactors blue ball

Author Searches

To find contact information or other publications by the authors of this paper, follow these three steps:
  1. (1) Choose an author,
  2. (2) Choose a search parameter,
  3. (3) Click to implement