期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2003
卷号：100
期号：4
页码：1673-1678
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0437911100
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase is an essential enzyme required for protein synthesis. Genes encoding this protein have not been identified in Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus, or Methanopyrus kandleri. It has previously been proposed that the prolyl-tRNA synthetase (ProRS) enzymes in these organisms recognize either proline or cysteine and can aminoacylate their cognate tRNAs through a dual-specificity mechanism. We report five crystal structures at resolutions between 2.6 and 3.2 A: apo M. jannaschii ProRS, and M. thermautotrophicus ProRS in apo form and in complex with cysteinyl-sulfamoyl-, prolyl-sulfamoyl-, and alanyl-sulfamoyl-adenylates. These aminoacyl-adenylate analogues bind to a single active-site pocket and induce an identical set of conformational changes in loops around the active site when compared with the ligand-free conformation of ProRS. The cysteinyl- and prolyl-adenylate analogues have similar, nanomolar affinities for M. thermautotrophicus ProRS. Homology modeling of tRNA onto these adenylate complexes places the 3'-OH of A76 in an appropriate position for the transfer of any of the three amino acids to tRNA. Thus, these structures explain recent biochemical experiments showing that M. jannaschii ProRS misacylates tRNAPro with cysteine, and argue against the proposal that these archaeal ProRS enzymes possess the dual capacity to aminoacylate both tRNAPro and tRNACys with their cognate amino acids.
