Suppressor sufJ: a novel type of tRNA mutant that induces translational frameshifting

We describe the DNA sequence change responsible for the creation of a frameshift-suppressor gene in Salmonella typhimurium. The suppressor, sufJ, results from a base-pair insertion in the gene coding for a threonine transfer RNA (tRNA3Thr). Unlike previously studied frameshift suppressor mutations, the sufJ insertion does not fall within the sequence corresponding to the tRNA anticodon. The insertion (a G.C base pair) occurs within a run of three G.C base pairs in that region of the gene coding for one strand of the anticodon stem. In the secondary structure of the mature tRNA, the net result is that an extra, unpaired cytidine residue is pushed into the anticodon loop, thus increasing the size of the loop to eight nucleotides. These findings are discussed in connection with the peculiar "three-out-of-four" method of reading by the sufJ suppressor. A unifying model is presented accounting for the contrasting decoding behaviors of tRNAs with eight-nucleotide-long anticodon loops.