Differential in vivo aminoacylation and utilization of homologous species of E. coli transfer RNA

Structure of an Escherichia coli tRNA operon containing linked genes for arginine, histidine, leucine, and proline tRNAs

A plasmid containing a gene for the most abundant Escherichia coli leucine isoacceptor tRNA, tRNALeu1 (anticodon CAG) was isolated from the Clarke-Carbon bank of cloned E. coli DNA. The clone contains a 12.3-kilobase DNA insert which was mapped by F' DNA hybridization analysis to the region 82 to 89 min on the chromosome. The cloned tDNALeu corresponds to the minor of two chromosomal regions containing different amounts of DNA complementary to tRNALeuCAG . Sequencing of the tDNA region revealed it to contain a multimeric transcription unit consisting of four different tRNA genes. The genes are in the arrangement 5'-leader- tRNAArgCCG -57 base pairs- tRNAHisGUG -20 base pairs- tRNALeuCAG -42 base pairs- tRNAProUGG -3'. Coordinate expression of the component tRNAs in vivo and the absence of intercistronic promoters indicated that all four tDNAs reside in the same operon. The tDNA sequence is bounded by a promoter element showing good agreement with the procaryotic consensus sequence and a GC-rich stem-loop element that corresponds to a rho-independent terminator. The promoter region contains a GC-rich sequence that agrees with a suggested consensus stringency control element and two domains possessing dyad symmetry which flank the Pribnow box and include the putative stringency control region.

Effects of magnesium and ionic strength on the diffusion and charge properties of several single tRNA species

The technique of laser light scattering was used to evaluate the effects of Mg+2 and ionic strength on the solution structures of seven tRNA species. Information about ion effects on both conformation and electric charge were derived from measurements of the translational diffusion constants and diffusive virial coefficients. E. coli tRNAMetf and six elongator tRNAs from both Class I and II were studied. The diffusion measurements show that the responses of all but the initiator species are qualitatively similar to each other and to that of bulk tRNA, but that significant quantitative differences also obtain. All of the elongator species exhibited an anomolous increase in diffusivity reported earlier by us for bulk tRNA when placed in a low salt-low Mg+2 condition. The initiator tRNA did not undergo this transition and unlike the other tRNAs tested was apparently more compact in 1 mM Mg+2 than 10 mM Mg+2 at ionic strengths in excess of 0.1 M. At 0.1 M ionic strength, pH 7.2, the average net charge of the tRNAs ranged from 7-12 e- in 1 mM Mg+2 and 3-7 e- in 10 mM Mg+2, consistent with the binding of 1-2 additional Mg+2 ions in the higher Mg+2 condition.

Unbalanced growth and the production of unique transfer ribonucleic acids in relaxed-control Escherichia coli

The unique leucine-, arginine-, valine-, and phenylalanine-specific transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNA's) produced in relaxed-control (rel-) Escherichia coli during leucine or arginine starvation are chromatographically similar to those produced by chloramphenicol treatment. The major unique rel- leucine-specific and phenylalanine-specific tRNA's are heterogeneous, accumulate with time of starvation, and can account for up to 70% of the respective amino acid acceptor activities. The changes which occur in the isoacceptor profiles for tRNALeu and tRNAPhe as a function of starvation time suggest that the unique species are undermodified precursors to the major isoacceptor species observed in nonstarved cells. Analyses of the isoacceptor patterns of tRNA from cells recovering from starvation suggest that the unique species of tRNALeu and tRNAPhe may not be normally occurring precursors. When leucine-starved cells were incubated in fresh, fully supplemented medium, the major unique tRNALeu and tRNAPhe appeared to be converted to normal species only slowly or not at all. The results are consistent with the view that some of the events in the post-transcriptional modification of tRNA may occur in an ordered sequence. An examination of the subcellular distribution of the unique leucine and phenylalanine tRNA's revealed that these species occur on the ribosome at about the same frequency as the major, normally occurring isoacceptor species. This result provides additional evidence of a precursor-product relationship for the unique and normal tRNA's and further indicates that there is no discrimination against the unique species by the ribosome.

Precursor relationship of phenylalanine transfer ribonucleic acid from Escherichia coli treated with chloramphenicol or starved for iron, methionine, or cysteine

When treated with chloramphenicol, Escherichia coli 15T minus produces two new species (IV and V) of transfer ribonucleic acid specific for phenylalanine in addition to the major normal species (II) and two minor normal species (I and III), which are seen as distinct components upon fractionation by chromatography on columns of benzoylated diethylaminoethyl-cellulose. Species IV is produced when cells are grown in iron-deficient medium and is, therefore, probably deficient in the 2-methylthio modification of N-6-(delta-2-isopentenyl) adenosine. A new minor species (Va) also appears under those conditions. All of the new components elute earlier than the major normal species. Addition of chloramphenicol to iron-deficient cells leads to the production of species V, and that production is blocked by rifampin, as is the production of species IV. Thus, species IV and V appear to be transcriptional products. Although E. coli 15T minus appears to be rel plus, starvation for methionine or cysteine leads to the accumulation of species IV (without addition of chloramphenicol); rifampin blocks the accumulation. Species V is still produced on addition of chloramphenicol to starved cultures. Starvation for arginine or tryptophan does not alter the chromatographic profile from the normal case. Treatment with permanganate indicates that species II and IV contain isopentenyladenosine but that species V does not. Species V appears to be deficient in both isopentenyl and methylthio modifications of adenosine and perhaps at least one other modification, because removing the isopentenyl moiety from adenosine does not convert species IV into species V, but converts it into species Va. A precursor relationship among species V, VI, and II is suggested by following the chromatographic profile of phenylalanine transfer ribonucleic acid during recovery of E. coli from treatment with chloramphenicol; the various species increase and decrease in a sequential manner.

Leucine tRNA and cessation of Escherichia coli protein synthesis upon phage T2 infection

The involvement of tRNA in cellular differentiation has been tested by analyzing aminoacyl-tRNA of Escherichia coli after phage T2 infection. One or two minutes after infection, half of one of the five leucine tRNA components (Leu-tRNA(1), CUG responding) undergoes a drastic structural change which leads to inactivity of both leucine acceptor activity and codon response. Whether or not the modification causes cessation of host protein synthesis without inhibiting phage-specific protein synthesis has been examined by analyzing polysome-bound leucine tRNA of E. coli before and after the phage infection. The results presented in this paper indicate that the amount of Leu-tRNA(1) used after infection was greatly reduced as compared to that used in noninfected cells. Studies of the in vitro protein-synthesizing system show that T2 mRNA rarely contains the CUG codon. A mechanism by which host mRNA translation is inhibited by the phage infection is proposed from this available information.