Sensitivity of thermoacidophilic archaebacteria to alpha-sarcin

Fungal ribotoxins: a family of naturally engineered targeted toxins?

alpha-Sarcin, mitogillin, and restrictocin are small (approximately 17 kDa) basic robosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) produced by the Aspergilli that catalytically inactivate the large ribosomal subunits of all organisms tested to date. These three fungal ribotoxins act as specific ribonucleases by hydrolyzing one single phosphodiester bond in the universally conserved alpha-sarcin domain of 23-28S rRNAs and are among the most potent inhibitors of protein synthesis known. Previous molecular studies of ribotoxins indicated that they belong to the superfamily of ribonucleases and analysis of the mitogillin gene employing PCR-mediated site-specific mutagenesis suggests that certain domains in ribotoxins, which share homologies with motifs in ribosome-related proteins, may be responsible for the targeting of ribotoxins to the ribosome. The applications of the ribotoxins as tools in research and their uses as therapeutic and diagnostic agents are also reviewed in this paper.

Evidence that the G2661 region of 23S rRNA is located at the ribosomal binding sites of both elongation factors

Alpha-sarcin cleaves one phosphodiester bond of 23S rRNA within 70S ribosomes or 50S subunits derived from E. coli. The resulting fragment was isolated and sequenced. The cleavage site was identified as being after G2661 and is located within a universally conserved dodecamer. Cleavage after G2661 specifically blocked the binding of both elongation factors, i.e. that of the ternary complex Phe-tRNA*EF-Tu*GMPPNP and of EF-G*GMPPNP, whereas all elongation-factor independent functions of the ribosome, such as association of the ribosomal subunits, tRNA binding to A and P sites, the accuracy of tRNA selection at both sites, the peptidyl transferase activity, and the EF-G independent, spontaneous translocation, were not affected at all. Control experiments with wheat germ ribosomes yielded an equivalent inhibition pattern. The data suggest that the universally conserved dodecamer containing the cleavage site G2661 is located at the presumably overlapping region of the binding sites of both elongation factors.