title: Mimivirus TyrRS: preliminary structural and functional characterization of the first amino-acyl tRNA synthetase found in a virus.
abstract: The amoeba-infecting Mimivirus is the largest known double-stranded DNA virus, with a 400 nm particle size, comparable to that of mycoplasma. The complete sequence of its 1.2 Mbp genome has recently been determined [Raoult et al. (2004), Science, 306, 1344-1350] and revealed numerous genes that were not expected to be found in a virus, such as genes encoding translation components, including 4-amino-acyl tRNA synthetases and homologues to various translation initiation, elongation and termination factors. A comprehensive structural and functional study of these Mimivirus gene products was initiated, as they may hold important clues about the origin of DNA viruses. Here, the first preliminary crystallographic and functional results obtained on one of these targets, Mimivirus TyrRS, are reported. Preliminary phasing was obtained using an original combination of homology modelling and normal mode analysis. Experimental evidence that Mimivirus tyrosyl tRNA synthetase recombinant gene product does indeed activate tyrosine is also presented.
authors.affiliation: Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory, CNRS UPR 2589, IBSM, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France. chantal@igs.cnrs-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abergel
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chenivesse
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suhre
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arondel
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Claverie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D000656:Amoeba / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014764:Viral Proteins; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases