A 5 kDa protein (SCS23) from the 30 S subunit of the spinach chloroplast ribosome

From the sequence to cell modeling: comprehensive functional genomics in Escherichia coli

As a result of the enormous amount of information that has been collected with E. coli over the past half century (e.g. genome sequence, mutant phenotypes, metabolic and regulatory networks, etc.), we now have detailed knowledge about gene regulation, protein activity, several hundred enzyme reactions, metabolic pathways, macromolecular machines, and regulatory interactions for this model organism. However, understanding how all these processes interact to form a living cell will require further characterization, quantification, data integration, and mathematical modeling, systems biology. No organism can rival E. coli with respect to the amount of available basic information and experimental tractability for the technologies needed for this undertaking. A focused, systematic effort to understand the E. coli cell will accelerate the development of new post-genomic technologies, including both experimental and computational tools. It will also lead to new technologies that will be applicable to other organisms, from microbes to plants, animals, and humans. E. coli is not only the best studied free-living model organism, but is also an extensively used microbe for industrial applications, especially for the production of small molecules of interest. It is an excellent representative of Gram-negative commensal bacteria. E. coli may represent a perfect model organism for systems biology that is aimed at elucidating both its free-living and commensal life-styles, which should open the door to whole-cell modeling and simulation.

Proteomic identification of all plastid-specific ribosomal proteins in higher plant chloroplast 30S ribosomal subunit

Six ribosomal proteins are specific to higher plant chloroplast ribosomes [Subramanian, A.R. (1993) Trends Biochem. Sci.18, 177-180]. Three of them have been fully characterized [Yamaguchi, K., von Knoblauch, K. & Subramanian, A. R. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 28455-28465; Yamaguchi, K. & Subramanian, A. R. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 28466-28482]. The remaining three plastid-specific ribosomal proteins (PSRPs), all on the small subunit, have now been characterized (2D PAGE, HPLC, N-terminal/internal peptide sequencing, electrospray ionization MS, cloning/ sequencing of precursor cDNAs). PSRP-3 exists in two forms (alpha/beta, N-terminus free and blocked by post-translational modification), whereas PSRP-2 and PSRP-4 appear, from MS data, to be unmodified. PSRP-2 contains two RNA-binding domains which occur in mRNA processing/stabilizing proteins (e.g. U1A snRNP, poly(A)-binding proteins), suggesting a possible role for it in the recruiting of stored chloroplast mRNAs for active protein synthesis. PSRP-3 is the higher plant orthologue of a hypothetical protein (ycf65 gene product), first reported in the chloroplast genome of a red alga. The ycf65 gene is absent from the chloroplast genomes of higher plants. Therefore, we suggest that Psrp-3/ycf65, encoding an evolutionarily conserved chloroplast ribosomal protein, represents an example of organelle-to-nucleus gene transfer in chloroplast evolution. PSRP-4 shows strong homology with Thx, a small basic ribosomal protein of Thermus thermophilus 30S subunit (with a specific structural role in the subunit crystallographic structure), but its orthologues are absent from Escherichia coli and the photosynthetic bacterium Synechocystis. We would therefore suggest that PSRP-4 is an example of gene capture (via horizontal gene transfer) during chloro-ribosome emergence. Orthologues of all six PSRPs are identifiable in the complete genome sequence of Arabidopsis thaliana and in the higher plant expressed sequence tag database. All six PSRPs are nucleus-encoded. The cytosolic precursors of PSRP-2, PSRP-3, and PSRP-4 have average targeting peptides (62, 58, and 54 residues long), and the mature proteins are of 196, 121, and 47 residues length (molar masses, 21.7, 13.8 and 5.2 kDa), respectively. Functions of the PSRPs as active participants in translational regulation, the key feature of chloroplast protein synthesis, are discussed and a model is proposed.

Escherichia coli ribosome-associated protein SRA, whose copy number increases during stationary phase

Protein D has previously been demonstrated to be associated with Escherichia coli ribosomes by the radical-free and highly reducing method of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In this study, we show that protein D is exclusively present in the 30S ribosomal subunit and that its gene is located at 33.6 min on the E. coli genetic map, between ompC and sfcA. The gene consists of 45 codons, coding for a protein of 5,096 Da. The copy number of protein D per ribosomal particle varied during growth and increased from 0.1 in the exponential phase to 0.4 in the stationary phase. For these reasons, protein D was named SRA (stationary-phase-induced ribosome-associated) protein and its gene was named sra. The amount of SRA protein within the cell was found to be controlled mainly at the transcriptional level: its transcription increased rapidly upon entry into the stationary phase and was partly dependent on an alternative sigma factor (sigma S). In addition, global regulators, such as factor inversion stimulation (FIS), integration host factor (IHF), cyclic AMP, and ppGpp, were found to play a role either directly or indirectly in the transcription of sra in the stationary phase.

Temperature-dependent regulation of the ribosomal small-subunit protein S21 in the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis M3

The rpsU gene, which encodes the ribosomal small-subunit protein S21 in Anabaena, is not a part of the macromolecular-synthesis operon as in most enterobacteria but rather is located downstream of the rbpA1 gene, which encodes an RNA-binding protein. Two types of transcripts were detected for this gene cluster. The level of the major rbpA1-rpsU transcript was about 10 times higher at 22 degrees C than at 38 degrees C, whereas the minor monocistronic rpsU transcript was more abundant at the higher temperature. The level of the S21 protein in relation to total protein was three times lower at 38 degrees C than at 22 degrees C. Analysis of isolated ribosomes indicated that S21 was present at an equimolar ratio with regard to other ribosomal proteins at 22 degrees C but that its level decreased with temperature. Conversely, the relative abundance of S5 increased with temperature. A decrease in the level of S21 at high temperature was also found in Synechocystis, in which rpsU is located downstream of the rrn operon. These results suggest that S21 is involved in the adaptation to changes in temperature in cyanobacteria.