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：2017
卷号：114
期号：42
页码：11121-11126
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1707862114
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：RNase P is an essential tRNA-processing enzyme in all domains of life. We identified an unknown type of protein-only RNase P in the hyperthermophilic bacterium Aquifex aeolicus : Without an RNA subunit and the smallest of its kind, the 23-kDa polypeptide comprises a metallonuclease domain only. The protein has RNase P activity in vitro and rescued the growth of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with inactivations of their more complex and larger endogenous ribonucleoprotein RNase P. Homologs of Aquifex RNase P (HARP) were identified in many Archaea and some Bacteria, of which all Archaea and most Bacteria also encode an RNA-based RNase P; activity of both RNase P forms from the same bacterium or archaeon could be verified in two selected cases. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that A. aeolicus and related Aquificaceae likely acquired HARP by horizontal gene transfer from an archaeon.
关键词：protein-only RNase P ; Aquifex aeolicus ; tRNA processing ; HARP
