title: tRNA recognition of tRNA-guanine transglycosylase from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus horikoshii.
abstract: In the biosynthesis of archaeosine, archaeal tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (TGT) catalyzes the replacement of guanine at position 15 in the D loop of most tRNAs by a free precursor base. We examined the tRNA recognition of TGT from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus horikoshii. Mutational studies using variant tRNA(Val) transcripts revealed that both guanine and its location (position 15) were strictly recognized by TGT without any other sequence-specific requirements. It appeared that neither the global L-shaped structure of a tRNA nor the local conformation of the D loop contributed to recognition by TGT. A minihelix composed of the acceptor stem and D arm of tRNA(Val), designed as a potential minimal substrate, failed to serve as a substrate for TGT. Only a minihelix with mismatched nucleotides at the junction between the two domains served as a good substrate, suggesting that mismatched nucleotides in the helix provide the specific information that allows TGT to recognize the guanine in the D loop. Our findings indicate that the tRNA recognition requirements of P. horikoshii TGT are sufficiently limited and specific to allow the enzyme to recognize efficiently any tRNA species whose structure is not fully stabilized in an extremely high temperature environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tsukuba 300-2611, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nameki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuo-Takasaki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okada
mesh_terms: D000926:Anticodon / Q000378:metabolism; D020137:Base Pair Mismatch; D001483:Base Sequence; D006151:Guanosine; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010430:Pentosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019711:Pyrococcus / Q000201:enzymology*; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000378:metabolism*; D012366:RNA, Transfer, Val; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D000926:Anticodon; D012366:RNA, Transfer, Val; D006151:Guanosine; D012343:RNA, Transfer; D010430:Pentosyltransferases; C020837:queuine tRNA-ribosyltransferase