Queuosine modification of the wobble base in tRNAHis influences 'in vivo' decoding properties

The 'in vivo' decoding properties of four tRNAHis isoacceptors, two from Drosophila melanogaster and two from brewer's yeast, were studied after their microinjection, along with turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) coat protein mRNA, into Xenopus laevis oocytes. The two Drosophila isoacceptors are identical besides containing either a guanosine (G) or the hypermodified nucleoside queuosine (Q) in the wobble position. The brewer's yeast isoacceptors differ by four bases in the anticodon stem, and by one base in the amino acceptor stem. Our results show that, under competing 'in vivo' conditions, the Drosophila tRNAHis with the anticodon GUG clearly prefers the histidine codon CAC to the codon CAU, whereas little preference is observed for the tRNAHis with the anticodon QUG for the codon CAU, and no preference for either codon by the two yeast isoacceptors. Hence, it can be concluded that the presence of the Q-base clearly affects the choice of the codon. This is the first demonstration of an 'in vivo' codon preference by tRNA isoacceptors differing in the modification of the wobble base during the elongation step of protein synthesis. These results imply that one function of the Q-base is at the translational level.