Partial purification and properties of the reticulocyte guanylating enzyme

The queuine micronutrient: charting a course from microbe to man

Micronutrients from the diet and gut microbiota are essential to human health and wellbeing. Arguably, among the most intriguing and enigmatic of these micronutrients is queuine, an elaborate 7-deazaguanine derivative made exclusively by eubacteria and salvaged by animal, plant and fungal species. In eubacteria and eukaryotes, queuine is found as the sugar nucleotide queuosine within the anticodon loop of transfer RNA isoacceptors for the amino acids tyrosine, asparagine, aspartic acid and histidine. The physiological requirement for the ancient queuine molecule and queuosine modified transfer RNA has been the subject of varied scientific interrogations for over four decades, establishing relationships to development, proliferation, metabolism, cancer, and tyrosine biosynthesis in eukaryotes and to invasion and proliferation in pathogenic bacteria, in addition to ribosomal frameshifting in viruses. These varied effects may be rationalized by an important, if ill-defined, contribution to protein translation or may manifest from other presently unidentified mechanisms. This article will examine the current understanding of queuine uptake, tRNA incorporation and salvage by eukaryotic organisms and consider some of the physiological consequence arising from deficiency in this elusive and lesser-recognized micronutrient.

Queuine is incorporated into brain transfer RNA

Pig brain tRNA was assayed for the presence of queuosine in the first position of the anticodon for each of the Q-family of tRNAs (aspartyl, asparaginyl, histidyl and tyrosyl). The brain tRNA was aminoacylated with each of the four amino acids and the aminoacylated tRNA's analyzed by RPC-5 chromatography. The results of this study show that for all four tRNAs of the family, queuine is substituted for guanine in virtually 100% of the anticodons. Therefore, it can be concluded that queuine is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and that brain contains guanine-queuine tRNA transglycosylase, the enzyme responsible for the excision of guanine from the original transcripts of these tRNAs and insertion of queuine. The determination of whether the tRNA contained queuine was made from the elution profile of the RPC-5 chromatograms and the results confirmed by a change in the RPC-5 elution profile when the tRNAs were reacted with BrCN or NaIO4.

The absence of the diet-derived 7-deazapurine, queuine in artificial liquid diets

Queuine is a derivative of guanine found in the transfer RNAs of most organisms including man. Higher mammals cannot synthesize queuine and must obtain it either from their diets or intestinal microflora. Tumor cells often contain much less queuine in their transfer RNAs than do normal cells. Cancer patients are frequently fed artificial liquid diets or are nourished by chemically defined intravenously administered liquids. In this report we present the results of our examination of five common artificial nutrition preparations obtained from a hospital pharmacy with respect to their content of queuine.

Interaction of lysinoalanine with the protein synthesizing apparatus

Lysinoalanine [N epsilon-(DL-2-amino-2-carboxyethyl)-L-lysine; LAL], a nephrotoxic lysine analog, inhibits the lysyl-tRNA-synthetase (EC 6.1.1.6) of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells competitively at micromolar concentrations. Incorporation of [14C]lysine into protein by a cell-free eukaryotic protein-synthesizing system was inhibited by LAL. Inhibition was 69.7% and 18.4% at LAL concentrations of 1.0 mM and 0.1 mM, respectively. LAL was incorporated into protein as well as being an inhibitor as indicated by the incorporation of [14C]LAL into protein by the cell-free eukaryote protein-synthesizing system. The proteins labeled with [14C]LAL co-electrophoresed with those labeled with [14C]lysine. These results indicate that LAL is an inhibitor of both prokaryote and eukaryote lysyl-tRNA-synthetase. Furthermore, it is incorporated into protein. Both of these actions can be factors in the nephrotoxicity of this common food contaminant. Possible mechanisms for the toxicity of lysinoalanine are discussed.

Temperature mediated variation of DNA secondary structure in (A.T) clusters; evidence by use of the oligopeptide netropsin as a structural probe

The titration viscometric investigation of the multi-mode interaction of netropsin (Nt) with (A.T) clusters of NaDNA12 and NH4DNA10 has been extended to different temperatures. The position of two boundaries on the r-scale (r= [Nt]bound/[DNA-P]) with increasing temperature steadily (rI/II) or more abruptly (rO/I) shifts to lower values. For the most (A.T) rich Nt-binding sites of modes (O), (I) and (II) this observation suggests the existence of an equilibrium between different DNA secondary structures with a different translation per base pair. The mode specific changes delta L1Nt of DNA contour length as induced by one Nt molecule proved to be almost independent of temperature. Concomitant stiffening effects increase with decreasing temperature, contrary to initial expectation. Conformational variability of (A.T) clusters may represent an essential feature in specific or selective DNA-protein interaction.

Presence of queuine in Drosophila melanogaster: correlation of free pool with queuosine content of tRNA and effect of mutations in pteridine metabolism

Queuine, a modified form of 7-deazaguanine present in certain transfer RNAs, is shown to occur in Drosophila melanogaster adults in a free form and its concentration varies as a function of age, nutrition and genotype. In several, but not all mutant strains, the concentrations of queuine and the Q(+) (queuine-containing) form of tRNATyr are correlated. The bioassay employs L-M cells which respond to the presence of queuine by an increase in their Q(+)tRNAAsp that is accompanied by a decrease in the Q(-)tRNAAsp isoacceptors. The increase in Q(+)tRNATyr in Drosophila that occurs on a yeast diet is accompanied by an increase in queuine. Similarly the increase of Q(+)tRNAs with age also is accompanied by an increase in free queuine. In two mutants, brown and sepia, these correlations were either diminished or failed to occur. Indeed, the extract of both mutants inhibited the response of the L-M cells to authentic queuine. When the pteridines that occur at abnormally high levels in sepia were used at 1 x 10(-6)M, the inhibition of the L-M cell assay occurred in the order biopterin greater than pterin greater than sepiapterin. These pteridines were also inhibitory for the purified guanine:tRNA transglycosylase from rabbit but the relative effectiveness then was pterin greater than biopterin greater than sepiapterin. Pterin was competitive with guanine in the enzyme reaction with Ki = 0.9 x 10(-7)M. Also when an extract of sepia was chromatographed on Sephadex G-50, the pteridine-containing fractions only were inhibitory toward the L-M cell assay or the enzyme assay. These results indicate that free queuine occurs in Drosophila but also that certain pteridines may interfere with the incorporation of queuine into RNA.

Specific changes in Q-ribonucleoside containing transfer RNA species during Friend leukemia cell erythroid differentiation

Changes in specific tRNA isoacceptors during Friend leukemia cell (F.L.C.) erythroid differentiation have been found to be concomitant with differences in the extent of the Q-base modification in certain species of tRNA. Transfer RNA was isolated from F.L.C. cultures after 0, 36, 48, 72, and 96 hr of DMSO induced differentiation. Changes in 17 isoacceptors of tRNAasn, tRNAasp, tRNAhis and tRNAtyr were compared by RPC-5 chromatography. Isoacceptors of these tRNA changed in relative amounts, following consistent trends throughout cell differentiation. The amount and distribution of Q-base containing tRNA isoacceptors was assayed by measuring the quanine-tRNA transferase catalyzed incorporation of [3H]-labeled guanine into tRNA species undermodified in Q-base followed by RPC-5 chormatography of the tRNA. The amount of Q-base containing tRNA species decreased in the first 48 hr after the induction, then increased again, indicating the level of Q-modification is correlated to the process of differentiation. Isoacceptors that lacked the Q-base were eluted late from RPC-5.

Purification and properties of the major tRNAHis from sheep liver

The major isoacceptor of tRNAHis from sheep liver was purified. Two different methods were described which both took advantage of the presence of the hypermodified Q nucleotide in this tRNA. In the first procedure, CNBr treatment of tRNA which was previously enriched in tRNAHis greatly increased the efficiency of the subsequent chromatographic steps. The tRNAHis obtained by this technique showed a specific activity of 1,690 picomoles of histidine per A260 unit. In the second one, a twenty-fold enrichment in tRNAHis was obtained by fractionation of crude tRNA on acetylated DBAE-cellulose columns. The nucleotide composition of the tRNA obtained by the CNBr procedure was determined. No thymine ribotide could be detected. When this tRNA was submitted to periodate oxidation and tritium borohydride reduction, a radioactive label was introduced in this molecule which was assumed to be located in the Q nucleotide.