Hearing impairment-associated KARS mutations lead to defects in aminoacylation of both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial tRNA^(Lys)

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases(aaRSs)are ubiquitously expressed,essential enzymes,synthesizing aminoacyl-tRNAs for protein synthesis.Functional defects of aaRSs frequently cause various human disorders.Human KARS encodes both cytosolic and mitochondrial lysyl-tRNA synthetases(LysRSs).Previously,two mutations(c.1129 G>A and c.517 T>C)were identified that led to hearing impairment;however,the underlying biochemical mechanism is unclear.In the present study,we found that the two mutations have no impact on the incorporation of LysRS into the multiple-synthetase complex in the cytosol,but affect the cytosolic LysRS level,its tertiary structure,and cytosolic tRNA aminoacylation in vitro.As for mitochondrial translation,the two mutations have little effect on the steady-state level,mitochondrial targeting,and tRNA binding affinity of mitochondrial LysRS.However,they exhibit striking differences in charging mitochondrial tRNALys,with the c.517T>C mutant being completely deficient in vitro and in vivo.We constructed two yeast genetic models,which are powerful tools to test the in vivo aminoacylation activity of KARS mutations at both the cytosolic and mitochondrial levels.Overall,our data provided biochemical insights into the potentially molecular pathological mechanism of KARS c.1129G>A and c.517T>C mutations and provided yeast genetic bases to investigate other KARS mutations in the future.

Theoretical and experimental biology in one<br>—A symposium in honour of Professor Kuo-Chen Chou’s 50th anniversary and Professor Richard Giegé’s 40th anniversary of their scientific careers

It has been a dream that theoretical biology can be extensively applied in experimental biology to accelerate the understanding of the sophiscated movements in living organisms. A brave assay and an excellent example were represented by enzymology, in which the well-established physico-chemistry is used to describe, to fit, to predict and to improve enzyme reactions. Before the modern bioinformatics, the developments of the combination of theoretical biology and experimental biology have been mainly limited to various classic formulations. The systematic use of graphic rules by Prof. Kuo-Chen Chou and his co-workers has significantly facilitated to deal with complicated enzyme systems. With the recent fast progress of bioinformatics, prediction of protein structures and various protein attributes have been well established by Chou and co-workers, stimulating the experimental biology. For example, their recent method for predicting protein subcellular localization (one of the important attributes of proteins) has been extensively applied by scientific colleagues, yielding many new results with thousands of citations. The research by Prof. Chou is characterized by introducing novel physical concepts as well as powerful and elegant mathematical methods into important biomedical problems, a focus throughout his career, even when facing enormous difficulties. His efforts in 50 years have greatly helped us to realize the dream to make “theoretical and experimental biology in one”. Prof. Richard Giege is well known for his multi-disciplinary research combining physics, chemistry, enzymology and molecular biology. His major focus of study is on the identity of tRNAs and their interactions with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS), which are of critical importance to the fidelity of protein biosynthesis. He and his colleagues have carried out the first crystallization of a tRNA/aaRS complex, that between tRNAAsp and AspRS from yeast. The determination of the complex structure contributed significantly to under- stand the interaction of protein and RNA. From his fine research, they have also found other biological function of these small RNAs. He has developed in parallel appropriate methods for his research, of which the protein crystallogenesis, a name he has coined, is an excellent example. Now macromolecular crystallogenesis has become a developed science. In fact, such contribution has accelerated the development of protein crystallography, stimulating the study of macromolecular structure and function.

Effect of Rare Earth Ions on Kinetic Properties of Escherichia coli Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase

Escherichia coli leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS) is one of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) and belongs to class 1 aaRSs. The apparent steady-state kinetics of the aminoacylation reaction catalyzed by LeuRS in the presence of some RE3+ were studied. The results show that Mg2+ can be substituted by RE3+ for the aminoacylation reaction. The apparent K-m values for ATP and leucine are markedly different between native and Mg2+-free tRNA(1)(Leu). At high concentration of ATP there is inhibitory effect on Mg2+-free tRNA but not on native tRNA, which indicates that metal ions are a substrate of the aminoacylation reaction.

The role of polysaccharides in the molecular evolution of biopolymers

The empirical (biochemical, the PCR method) and computational (quantum-chemical, PM3) methods have shown the ability of polysaccharides to catalyze the polymerization of amino acids and nucleotides within the physiologically acceptable temperature range. The possibility of nucleotide aminoacylation in the presence of polysaccharides has been established. The suggestion has been made that abiogenic aminoacylation of nucleotides by polysaccharides served as the prototype of the original aminoacylpre-tRNA-synthetase activity and subsequently determined the formation of the modern mechanism of genetic information transfer via three biopolymer types—nucleic acids, proteins and polysaccharides.

线粒体RNAm^(3)C修饰酶METTL8的活力依赖于亚型特异的N-末端延伸结构且METTL8能修饰多种非天然底物tRNA

定位于线粒体的METTL8-Iso1和分布在核仁的METTL8-Iso4均为甲基转移酶基因METTL8通过mRNA选择性剪接产生的亚型,它们的区别仅为前者有N-末端延伸结构.METTL8-Iso1的功能是催化产生线粒体tRNATh和tRNASe(UCN)第32位3-甲基胞苷(mC32)修饰.METTL8-Iso4是否也具有tRNAmC32修饰活性以及N-末端延伸在线粒体tRNAmC32修饰中的作用尚不清楚。我们发现,N-末端延伸上有几个保守的关键氨基酸残基,而METTL8-Iso4由于缺少N-未端延伸而不具备tRNAmC32修饰活力.体外实验和体内实验的结果表明,甲基转移酶METTL2A和Trm140上对应的这些关键位点也是各自对底物tRNAmC32修饰活性所必需的。在跨细胞区室与跨物种的酶对tRNA体外催化的交又实验中,我们意外地发现METTL8-Iso1也能催化几种人细胞质tRNA甚至大肠杆菌tRNA的mC32修饰。此外,mC32修饰并不影响tRNA的N-苏氨酰氨基甲酰腺苷(t'A)修饰和氨基酰化活力.除了METTL8与人线粒体丝氨酰-tRNA合成酶(SARS2)的相互作用外,我们还进一步发现了人线粒体苏氨酰-tRNA合成酶(TARS2)与METTL8-IsoI之间的相互作用。体外实验中,METTL8-Iso1显著促进了SARS2和TARS2的氨酰化活力,表明线粒体IRNA的修饰和氨基酰化之间存在功能联系:总之,该结果加深了对线粒体mC32修饰生物发生机制的理解,并提供了一种制备仅含mC32修饰的人细胞质或细菌tRNA的方法,有助于未来研究mC32修饰对tRNA结构和功能的影响。

Transfer RNA:A dancer between charging and mis-charging for protein biosynthesis

Transfer RNA plays a fundamental role in the protein biosynthesis as an adaptor molecule by functioning as a biological link between the genetic nucleotide sequence in the mRNA and the amino acid sequence in the protein.To perform its role in protein biosynthesis,it has to be accurately recognized by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases(aaRSs)to generate aminoacyl-tRNAs(aa-tRNAs).The correct pairing between an amino acid with its cognate tRNA is crucial for translational quality control.Production and utilization of mis-charged tRNAs are usually detrimental for all the species,resulting in cellular dysfunctions.Correct aa-tRNAs formation is collectively controlled by aaRSs with distinct mechanisms and/or other trans-factors.However,in very limited instances,mis-charged tRNAs are intermediate for specific pathways or essential components for the translational machinery.Here,from the point of accuracy in tRNA charging,we review our understanding about the mechanism ensuring correct aa-tRNA generation.In addition,some unique mis-charged tRNA species necessary for the organism are also briefly described.