Codon and amino-acid specificities of a transfer RNA are both converted by a single post-transcriptional modification

An Escherichia coli isoleucine transfer RNA specific for the codon AUA (tRNA2Ile or tRNAminorIle (ref. 1) has a novel modified nucleo-side, lysidine (L; ref. 2) (Fig. la) in the first position of the anticodon (position 34), which is essential for the specific recognition of the codon AUA (ref. 1). We isolated the gene for tRNA2Ile (ileX) and found that the anticodon is CAT, which is characteristic of the methionine tRNA gene. Replacement of L(34) of tRNA2Ile molecule enzymatically with unmodified C(34) resulted in a marked reduction of the isoleucine-accepting activity and, surprisingly, in the appearance of methionine-accepting activity. Thus, both the codon and amino-acid specificity of this tRNA are converted by a single post-transcriptional modification of the first position of the anticodon during tRNA maturation.

[1]  J. Abelson,et al.  DNA sequence of a T4 transfer RNA gene cluster. , 1980, Journal of molecular biology.

[2]  L. Hensgens,et al.  The sequence of the gene for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, a frameshift containing gene for cytochrome c oxidase subunit II and seven unassigned reading frames in Trypanosoma brucei mitochondrial maxi-circle DNA. , 1984, Nucleic acids research.

[3]  T H Jukes,et al.  Evolution of the genetic code as affected by anticodon content. , 1988, Trends in genetics : TIG.

[4]  A. Matsuda,et al.  A novel lysine-substituted nucleoside in the first position of the anticodon of minor isoleucine tRNA from Escherichia coli , 1989, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[5]  L. Simpson,et al.  Sequences of six genes and several open reading frames in the kinetoplast maxicircle DNA of Leishmania tarentolae. , 1984, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[6]  B. Roe,et al.  The complete nucleotide sequence of the Xenopus laevis mitochondrial genome. , 1985, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[7]  F. Ahne,et al.  The mitochondrial genome of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The cytochrome b gene has an intron closely related to the first two introns in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cox1 gene. , 1985, Journal of molecular biology.

[8]  L. H. Schulman,et al.  In vitro conversion of a methionine to a glutamine-acceptor tRNA. , 1985, Biochemistry.

[9]  W. McClain,et al.  Rare transfer ribonucleic acid essential for phage growth. Nucleotide sequence comparison of normal and mutant T4 isoleucine-accepting transfer ribonucleic acid. , 1979, Biochemistry.

[10]  G. Cantoni,et al.  Procedures in nucleic acid research , 1966 .

[11]  T. Ohyama,et al.  Studies on T. utilis tRNATyr variants with enzymatically altered D-loop sequences. I. Deletion of the conserved sequence Gm-G and its effects on aminoacylation and conformation. , 1985, Journal of biochemistry.

[12]  S. Nishimura,et al.  Purification and characterization of AUA specific isoleucine transfer ribonucleic acid from Escherichia coli B. , 1974, Biochemistry.

[13]  Paul Schimmel,et al.  A simple structural feature is a major determinant of the identity of a transfer RNA , 1988, Nature.

[14]  D. A. Clayton,et al.  Sequence and gene organization of mouse mitochondrial DNA , 1981, Cell.

[15]  H. Masaki,et al.  Unusual genetic codes and a novel gene structure for tRNA(AGYSer) in starfish mitochondrial DNA. , 1987, Gene.

[16]  F. Sanger,et al.  Sequence and organization of the human mitochondrial genome , 1981, Nature.

[17]  D. Wolstenholme,et al.  Nucleotide sequence of a segment of Drosophila mitochondrial DNA that contains the genes for cytochrome c oxidase subunits II and III and ATPase subunit 6. , 1983, Nucleic acids research.

[18]  B. Dudock,et al.  The gene for a spinach chloroplast isoleucine tRNA has a methionine anticodon. , 1982, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[19]  R. Ogden,et al.  Changing the identity of a transfer RNA , 1986, Nature.

[20]  L. H. Schulman,et al.  Role of anticodon bases in aminoacylation of Escherichia coli methionine transfer RNAs. , 1977, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[21]  D. S. Jones,et al.  Transfer RNA: Biological Aspects : Edited by D. Söll, J.N. Abelson and P.R. Schimmel Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; New York, 1980 x + 578 pages. $70.00 , 1981 .

[22]  Guy Plunkett,et al.  DNA sequence of the transfer RNA region of bacteriophage T4: implications for transfer RNA synthesis. , 1981, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[23]  Hisami Yamada,et al.  Isolation of gram quantities of isoleucyl‐tRNA synthetase from an overproducing strain of Escherichia coli and its use for purification of cognate tRNA , 1985, FEBS letters.

[24]  W. McClain,et al.  Changing the identity of a tRNA by introducing a G-U wobble pair near the 3' acceptor end. , 1988, Science.

[25]  H. Donis-Keller,et al.  Phy M: an RNase activity specific for U and A residues useful in RNA sequence analysis. , 1980, Nucleic acids research.

[26]  E. J. Murgola,et al.  Nucleotide substitution in the amino acid acceptor stem of lysine transfer RNA causes missense suppression. , 1984, Journal of molecular biology.

[27]  L. Grossman,et al.  Location and structure of the var1 gene on yeast mitochondrial DNA: Nucleotide sequence of the 40.0 allele , 1982, Cell.

[28]  F. Sanger,et al.  Complete sequence of bovine mitochondrial DNA. Conserved features of the mammalian mitochondrial genome. , 1982, Journal of molecular biology.

[29]  L. H. Schulman,et al.  Base substitutions in the wobble position of the anticodon inhibit aminoacylation of E. coli tRNAfMet by E. coli Met-tRNA synthetase. , 1983, Nucleic acids research.

[30]  O. Uhlenbeck,et al.  Reactions at the termini of tRNA with T4 RNA ligase. , 1978, Nucleic acids research.

[31]  W. Gilbert,et al.  Mapping adenines, guanines, and pyrimidines in RNA. , 1977, Nucleic acids research.

[32]  D. Mh.  Drosophila melanogaster mitochondrial DNA, a novel organization and genetic code , 1983 .