Properties of peptide chain release factor 2 from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2): conserved primary structure but no frameshift regulation

A peptide chain release factor 2 affects the stability of UGA-containing transcripts in Arabidopsis chloroplasts

Positional cloning of the hcf109 (high chlorophyll fluorescence) mutation in Arabidopsis has identified a nucleus-encoded, plastid-localized release factor 2-like protein, AtprfB, indicating that the processes of translational termination in chloroplasts resemble those of eubacteria. Control of atprfB expression by light and tissues is connected to chloroplast development. A point mutation at the last nucleotide of the second intron causes a new splice site farther downstream, resulting in a deletion of seven amino acid residues in the N-terminal region of the Hcf109 protein. The mutation causes decreased stability of UGA-containing mRNAs. Our data suggest that transcripts with UGA stop codons are terminated exclusively by AtprfB in chloroplasts and that AtprfB is involved in the regulation of both mRNA stability and protein synthesis. Furthermore, sequence data reveal a +1 frameshift at an internal in-frame TGA stop codon in the progenitor prfB gene of cyanobacteria. The expression pattern and functions of atprfB could reflect evolutionary driving forces toward the conservation of TGA stop codons exclusively in plastid genomes of land plants.

[Genetic and biochemical studies on the regulatory mechanism of the self-resistance and biosynthesis of antibiotics]

The following topics are described: 1. chemistry of beta-lactamases; 2. beta-lactamases from Streptomyces including distribution of beta-lactamases in actinobacteria, properties of beta-lactamases from Streptomyces, cloning and regulatory mechanism of expression of beta-lactamase genes from Streptomyces and evolution and classification of beta-lactamases in general; 3. penicillin-binding proteins from Streptomyces including beta-lactam-producing- and non-producing strains and 4. eukaryotic-type protein kinases from Streptomyces including cloning of the genes and evolution and classification of eukaryotic-type protein kinases in general.

Suppression of TGA mutations in the Bacillus subtilis spoIIR gene by prfB mutations

An unexpectedly high proportion of TGA nonsense mutations was obtained in a collection of chemically induced mutations in the spoIIR locus of Bacillus subtilis. Of 11 different mutations obtained, TGA mutations were found in four codons, whereas only three codons yielded missense mutations. Six suppressors of the TGA mutations were isolated, and five of the suppressing mutations were mapped to the prfB gene encoding protein release factor 2. These are the first mutations shown to map to the B. subtilis prfB locus. The sequence of the prfB gene was completed, and two revisions of the published sequence were made. The five prfB mutations also resulted in suppression of the catA86-TGA mutation to between 19 and 54% of the expression of catA86(+), compared to the readthrough level of 6% in the prfB+ strain. N-terminal sequencing of suppressed catA86-TGA-specified protein demonstrated that the amino acid inserted at UGA because of the prfB1 mutations was tryptophan.

Does disparate occurrence of autoregulatory programmed frameshifting in decoding the release factor 2 gene reflect an ancient origin with loss in independent lineages?

In Escherichia coli an autoregulatory mechanism of programmed ribosomal frameshifting governs the level of polypeptide chain release factor 2. From an analysis of 20 sequences of genes encoding release factor 2, we infer that this frameshift mechanism was present in a common ancestor of a large group of bacteria and has subsequently been lost in three independent lineages.

Is the in-frame termination signal of the Escherichia coli release factor-2 frameshift site weakened by a particularly poor context?

The synthesis of release factor-2 (RF-2) in bacteria is regulated by a high efficiency +1 frameshifting event at an in-frame UGA stop codon. The stop codon does not specify the termination of synthesis efficiently because of several upstream stimulators for frameshifting. This study focusses on whether the particular context of the stop codon within the frameshift site of the Escherichia coli RF-2 mRNA contributes to the poor efficiency of termination. The context of UGA in this recoding site is rare at natural termination sites in E.coli genes. We have evaluated how the three nucleotides downstream from the stop codon (+4, +5 and +6 positions) in the native UGACUA sequence affect the competitiveness of the termination codon against the frameshifting event. Changing the C in the +4 position and, separately, the A in the +6 position significantly increase the termination signal strength at the frameshift site, whereas the nucleotide in the +5 position had little influence. The efficiency of particular termination signals as a function of the +4 or +6 nucleotides correlates with how often they occur at natural termination sites in E.coli; strong signals occur more frequently and weak signals are less common.

Conserved motifs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic polypeptide release factors: tRNA-protein mimicry hypothesis

Translation termination requires two codon-specific polypeptide release factors in prokaryotes and one omnipotent factor in eukaryotes. Sequences of 17 different polypeptide release factors from prokaryotes and eukaryotes were compared. The prokaryotic release factors share residues split into seven motifs. Conservation of many discrete, perhaps critical, amino acids is observed in eukaryotic release factors, as well as in the C-terminal portion of elongation factor (EF) G. Given that the C-terminal domains of EF-G interacts with ribosomes by mimicry of a tRNA structure, the pattern of conservation of residues in release factors may reflect requirements for a tRNA-mimicry for binding to the A site of the ribosome. This mimicry would explain why release factors recognize stop codons and suggests that all prokaryotic and eukaryotic release factors evolved from the progenitor of EF-G.

Functional specificity of amino acid at position 246 in the tRNA mimicry domain of bacterial release factor 2

The termination of protein synthesis in bacteria requires codon-specific polypeptide release factors RF-1 (UAG/UAA specific) and RF-2 (UGA/UAA specific). We have proposed that release factors mimic tRNA and recognize the stop codon for polypeptide release (Nakamura et al (1996) Cell 87, 147-150). In contrast to the textbook view, genetic experiments have indicated that Escherichia coli RF-2 terminates translation very weakly at UAA while Salmonella RF-2 decodes this signal efficiently. Moreover, an excess of E coli RF-2 was toxic to cells while an excess of Salmonella RF-2 was not. These two RF-2 proteins are identical except for 16 out of 365 amino acids. Fragment swap experiments and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that a residue at position 246 is solely responsible for these two phenotypes. Upon substituting Ala (equivalent to Salmonella RF-2) for Thr-246 of E coli RF-2, the protein acquired increased release activity for UAA as well as for UGA. These results led us to conclude that E coli RF-2 activity is potentially weak and that the amino acid at position 246 plays a crucial role, not for codon discrimination, but for stop codon recognition or polypeptide release, presumably constituting an essential moiety of tRNA mimicry or interacting with peptidyltransferase centers of the ribosome.