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Journal article

Dual targeting of a single tRNATrp requires two different tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetases in Trypanosoma brucei

  • Charrière, Fabien Department of Biology Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Helgadóttir, Sunna Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, USA
  • Horn, Elke K. Department of Biology Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Söll, Dieter Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, USA - Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, USA
  • Schneider, André Department of Biology Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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    2006
Published in:
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2006, vol. 103, p. 6847-6852
genetic code
mitochondria
RNA editing
aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase
English The mitochondrion of Trypanosoma brucei does not encode any tRNAs. This deficiency is compensated for by the import of a small fraction of nearly all of its cytosolic tRNAs. Most trypanosomal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are encoded by single-copy genes, suggesting the use of the same enzyme in the cytosol and mitochondrion. However, the T. brucei genome contains two distinct genes for eukaryotic tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS). RNA interference analysis established that both TrpRS1 and TrpRS2 are essential for growth and required for cytosolic and mitochondrial tryptophanyl-tRNA formation, respectively. Decoding the mitochondrial tryptophan codon UGA requires mitochondria-specific C→U RNA editing in the anticodon of the imported tRNATrp. In vitro charging assays with recombinant TrpRS enzymes demonstrated that the edited anticodon and the mitochondria-specific thiolation of U33 in the imported tRNATrp act as antideterminants for the cytosolic TrpRS1. The existence of two TrpRS enzymes, therefore, can be explained by the need for a mitochondrial synthetase with extended substrate specificity to achieve aminoacylation of the imported thiolated and edited tRNATrp. Thus, the notion that, in an organism, all nuclear-encoded tRNAs assigned to a given amino acid are charged by a single aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, is not universally valid.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/300110
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