Protein synthesis by the psychophiles Bacillus psychophilus and Bacillus insolitus

Protein synthesis by whole cells of two psychrophilic bacteria, Bacillus psychrophilus and Bacillus insolitus, directly corresponded to the growth of these organisms at 5, 20 and 30C, with a smaller total amount of growth and protein synthesis occurring at 30C than at 20C. When the effect of temperature on protein synthesis was examined using extracts, the capability to carry out poly U directed incorporation of 14C-L-phenylalanine into protein was inhibited by 30C as compared to 5C. The temperature sensitivity of the cell-free protein synthesizing systems was not due to the presence of heat-sensitive aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Investigation of the effect of separately heating at 30C washed ribosome (W-RIB) and supernatant (IS-100) fractions prepared from these microorganisms, followed by recombination and reaction at 15C, showed that the temperature sensitivity of the protein synthesis resided in the ribosomal fraction of the cells

Hydrocortisone induction of rat-liver leucyl-transfer RNA and its synthetases

Within 3 hr after the intraperitoneal administration of hydrocortisone to female rats, a new leucine-accepting tRNA and a new leucyl-tRNA synthetase activity appear in the liver cytosol. The new isoaccepting tRNA can be acylated only with the synthetase derived from livers of hormone-treated animals. Both components are transient; by 12 hr after hydrocortisone administration, the isoaccepting tRNA and its synthetase disappear from livers of treated animals.

Different arginine transfer ribonucleic acid species prevalent in shaken and unshaken cultures of Neurospora

When the arginyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) species isolated from unshaken and from shaken cultures of Neurospora were compared by co-chromatography, a marked change in the relative abundance of the two main tRNA(arg) species was found. The two arginine tRNA species had different codon responses in ribosome binding assays. The tRNA(arg) eluting first (prevalent in shaken cultures) bound strongly to polyadenylic-guanylic acid [poly(A,G)] and to a lesser extent to polycytidylic-guanylic-adenylic acid [poly(C,G,A)]. The second tRNA(arg) species (prevalent in unshaken cultures) bound to poly(C,G,A) but not to poly(A, G). The possible significance of these observations is briefly discussed. Several modifications that improve the yield of tRNA from Neurospora were introduced in a standard isolation procedure.

Regulation of the tyrosine biosynthetic enzymes in Salmonella typhimurium: analysis of the involvement of tyrosyl-transfer ribonucleic acid and tyrosyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase

Mutants of Salmonella typhimurium were isolated that require tyrosine for growth because of an altered tyrosyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase. Extracts of one strain (JK10) contain a labile enzyme with decreased ability to transfer tyrosine to tRNA(Tyr) and a higher K(m) for tyrosine than the wild-type enzyme. Strain JK10 maintains repressed levels of the tyrosine biosynthetic enzymes when the growth rate is restricted due to limitation of charged tRNA(Tyr). Several second-site revertants of strain JK10 exhibit temperature-sensitive growth due to partially repaired, heat-labile tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase. The tyrosine biosynthetic enzymes are not derepressed in thermosensitive strains grown at the restrictive temperature. A class of tyrosine regulatory mutants, designated tyrR, contains normal levels of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase and tRNA(Tyr). These results suggest that charging of tRNA(Tyr) is not necessary for repression. This conclusion is substantiated by the finding that 4-aminophenylalanine, a tyrosine analogue which causes repression of the tyrosine biosynthetic enzymes, is not attached to tRNA(Tyr) in vivo, nor does it inhibit the attachment reaction in vitro. A combined regulatory effect due to the simultaneous presence of tyrS and tyrR mutations in the same strain was detected. The possibility of direct participation of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase in tyrosine regulation is discussed.

Temperature-sensitive osmotic remedial mutants of Escherichia coli

A collection of temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 was examined for ability to grow at the restrictive temperature when the osmotic pressure of the medium was increased. Five of the fourteen mutants were found to be osmotic remedial. Four strains containing temperature-sensitive, osmotic-remedial mutations affecting aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases were found to have altered permeability characteristics which may be attributable to changes in the lipopolysaccharide layer of the cell envelope at restrictive temperatures.

Regulation of hemoglobin synthesis in the blood islands of chick blastodiscs. Tentative identification of the stimulatory transfer RNA as a minor alanine-specific species

Transfer RNA, isolated from adult chicken liver and from the membranes associated with the 5- to 6-day embryo, stimulated hemoglobin formation by de-embryonated chick blastodiscs explanted at the 5-somite stage onto medium containing a high concentration of actinomycin D. Preparations acylated specifically with alanine retained this biological activity when oxidized with periodate. The activity of preparations charged with amino acid mixtures lacking alanine was destroyed by periodate treatment.A minor species, representing less than 1% of the total, was largely resolved from the bulk of the alanine-specific tRNAs of chick liver by serial chromatography on benzoylated DEAE-cellulose. The isolated fraction contained the component which stimulated hemoglobin formation by blastodiscs explanted onto medium containing a high concentration of actinomycin.

Recognition of nonsense codons in mammalian cells

The tritiated trinucleotide UGA was used in a binding assay to detect transfer RNAs that recognize this nonsense codon from calf-liver cells. Acylation of transfer RNA with labeled amino acids and determination of codon responses of aminoacyl-tRNAs demonstrate that a species of seryl-tRNA and a species of arginyl-tRNA recognize the codon UGA. Slight responses of cysteinyl-tRNA and of trytophanyl-tRNA to the codon UGA were also observed.

Is there a discriminator site in transfer RNA?

We determined the nature of the fourth nucleotide from the 3'-end of several Escherichia coli tRNAs, and tabulated these results with the same data for all known tRNA sequences. We find a striking constancy of the fourth nucleotide in tRNAs specific for a given amino acid. Furthermore, tRNAs specific for chemically related amino acids are very likely to have the same nucleotide at the fourth position. One possible explanation for these regularities is the "discriminator" hypothesis: The code by which tRNA is recognized by its cognate aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase is logically hierarchical, with the fourth nucleotide serving as a primary "discriminator" site to subdivide the tRNAs into groups for recognition purposes. Each such group could have its own recognition code, or could be further subdivided by a secondary discriminator site. According to this hypothesis, chemically similar amino acids have the same discriminator nucleotide because they evolved from a single set of related amino acids indistinguishable to a primitive system. There are other possible explanations for the observed regularities at the fourth nucleotide. For example, it is conceivable that the position is used for a direct physical interaction with the amino acid in the charging process, and chemically similar amino acids naturally select the same nucleotide. Further experiments can be expected to clarify this question.

Enzyme-mediated binding of tyrosine to brome-mosaic-virus ribonucleic acid

Incubation of tyrosine with the RNA from brome-mosaic-virus under conditions favourable for aminoacylation of tRNA resulted in binding of tyrosine to the viral RNA. Sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation showed that tyrosine binds to three and probably to all four of the viral RNA components. The bound amino acid was readily released in mild alkaline solutions. Of 20 amino acids tested, only tyrosine was found to bind. The maximum extent of binding observed was 0.58mol of tyrosine/mol of brome-mosaic-virus RNA.