Related Experiment Videos
Evolution of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase quaternary structure and activity: Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial
A Sanni1, P Walter, Y Boulanger
1Institut de Biologie Molecularie et Cellulaire du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Biochimie, Strasbourg, France.
Abstract:
Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetases [L-phenylalanine:tRNAPhe ligase (AMP-forming), EC 6.1.1.20] from Escherichia coli, yeast cytoplasm, and mammalian cytoplasm have an unusual conserved alpha 2 beta 2 quaternary structure that is shared by only one other aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Both subunits are required for activity. We show here that a single mitochondrial polypeptide from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an active phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase. This protein (the MSF1 gene product) is active as a monomer. It has all three characteristic sequence motifs of the class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and its activity may result from the recruitment of additional sequences into an alpha-subunit-like structure.