Demonstration of an altered phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase in an analogue-resistant mutant of Aspergillus nidulans

Fast dissociation of phe-tRNA synthetase from Aspergillus nidulans immobilized on sepharose-6B column by NaCl

Phenylalanyl-tRNA2) synthetase from Aspergillus nidulans was efficiently immobilised to sepharose 6B column containing phenylalanine as the ligand. NaCl was found to be a potent dissociating agent for the immobilised enzyme. While 0.5 M NaCl in discontinuous elution showed a slow impetus on dissociation giving a plateaux profile, a solution of 0.8 M NaCl made the elution rapid giving a sharp peak. On the other hand, in a gradient (continuous) elution the rapidity of dissociation was found to be enhanced with the increase in the difference of the two concentrations. The result suggests that Na+ ions interact with the protein binding site of the ligand eventually dissociating the enzyme molecule by disrupting the covalent bond without affecting its normal catalytic activity.

p-fluoro-phenylalanine resistance in Aspergillus nidulans diploid cells: evidence that dominant, lethal mutations are involved

An unexpectedly large number of p-fluoro-phenylalanine (FPA)-resistant mutants have been recovered after UV-irradiation of wild type diploid conidia of Aspergillus nidulans. At least five different classes of mutants, possibly corresponding to five different loci, have been identified. Two of them may be the dominant loci which have already been described but the others (a minimum of three loci) are completely different. Mutations in these loci confer high level FPA resistance in the heterozygous diploids, being lethal in the haploids; one mutation has been preliminarily mapped to chromosome I and another to chromosome III.