Project description:Mistranslation, the mis-incorporation of an amino acid not specified by the “standard” genetic code, occurs in all cells. tRNA variants that increase mistranslation arise spontaneously and engineered tRNAs can achieve mistranslation frequencies approaching 10% in yeast and bacteria. The goal of this study was to detect mistranslation from two different tRNA variants. The first variant, tRNA-Pro-G3:U70, has a mutation in its acceptor stem creating a G3:U70 base pair which is the key identity element for the alanine tRNA synthetase. This tRNA should be charged with alanine and mis-incorporate alanine at proline codons. The second variant, tRNA-Ser-UCU,G26A, is a serine tRNA with an arginine anticodon and a G26A secondary mutation to dampen function and prevent lethal levels of mistranslation. This tRNA should mis-incorporate serine at arginine codons.
Project description:Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) maintain translational fidelity through strict charging by their cognate aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and codon:anticodon base pairing with the mRNA at the ribosome. Mistranslation occurs when an amino acid not specified by the genetic code is incorporated into a protein. Since alanyl-tRNA synthetase uniquely recognizes a G3:U70 base pair in alanine tRNAs and the anticodon plays no role in charging, alanine tRNA variants with anticodon mutations have the potential to mistranslate alanine. Our goal was to quantify mis-incorporation of alanine into proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains expressing one of 57 different alanine tRNA anticodon variants. Using mass spectrometry, we observed mistranslation for 45 of the variants when expressed on single-copy plasmids.
Project description:High-fidelity translation and a strictly accurate proteome were originally assumed as essential to life and cellular viability. Yet recent studies in bacteria and eukaryotic model organisms suggest that proteome-wide mistranslation can provide selective advantages and is tolerated in the cell at higher levels than previously thought (one error in 6.9 × 10-4 in yeast) with a limited impact on phenotype. Previously, we selected a tRNAPro containing a single mutation that induces mistranslation with alanine at proline codons in yeast. Yeast tolerate the mistranslation by inducing a heat-shock response and through the action of the proteasome. Here we found a homologous human tRNAPro (G3:U70) mutant that is not aminoacylated with proline, but is an efficient alanine acceptor. In live human cells, we visualized mistranslation using a green fluorescent protein reporter that fluoresces in response to mistranslation at proline codons. In agreement with measurements in yeast, quantitation based on the GFP reporter suggested a mistranslation rate of up to 2-5% in HEK 293 cells. Our findings suggest a stress-dependent phenomenon where mistranslation levels increased during nutrient starvation. Human cells did not mount a detectable heat-shock response and tolerated this level of mistranslation without apparent impact on cell viability. Because humans encode ∼600 tRNA genes and the natural population has greater tRNA sequence diversity than previously appreciated, our data also demonstrate a cell-based screen with the potential to elucidate mutations in tRNAs that may contribute to or alleviate disease.
Project description:The tRNA pool determines the efficiency, throughput, and accuracy of translation. Previous studies have identified dynamic changes in the tRNA supply and mRNA demand during cancerous proliferation. Yet, dynamic changes may occur also during physiologically normal proliferation, and these are less characterized. We examined the tRNA and mRNA pools of T-cells during their vigorous proliferation and differentiation upon triggering of the T cell antigen receptor. We observe a global signature of switch in demand for codon at the early proliferation phase of the response, accompanied by corresponding changes in tRNA expression levels. In the later phase, upon differentiation of the T cells, the response of the tRNA pool is relaxed back to basal level, potentially restraining excessive proliferation. Sequencing of tRNAs allowed us to also evaluate their diverse base-modifications. We found that two types of tRNA modifications, Wybutosine and ms2t6A, are reduced dramatically during T-cell activation. These modifications occur in the anti-codon loops of two tRNAs that decode “slippery codons”, that are prone to ribosomal frameshifting. Attenuation of these frameshift-protective modifications is expected to increase proteome-wide frameshifting during T-cell proliferation. Indeed, human cell lines deleted of a Wybutosine writer showed increased ribosomal frameshifting, as detected with a reporter that consists of a critical frameshifting site taken from the HIV gag-pol slippery codon motif. These results may explain HIV’s specificity to proliferating T-Cells since it requires ribosomal frameshift exactly on this codon for infection. The changes in tRNA expression and modifications uncover a new layer of translation regulation during T-cell proliferation and exposes a potential trade-off between cellular growth and translation fidelity.
Project description:Mistranslation, the mis-incorporation of an amino acid not specified by the “standard” genetic code, occurs in all cells. tRNA variants that increase mistranslation arise spontaneously and engineered tRNAs can achieve mistranslation frequencies approaching 10% in yeast and bacteria. The goal of this study was to detect and quantify mistranslation from a serine tRNA variant with proline UGG anticodon and G26A secondary mutation engineered in yeast
Project description:Our work defines the molecular principles of intron excision in humans and provides evidence that destabilized TSEN contributes to a PCH phenotype by impairing tRNA splicing at the intron-excision step.
Project description:Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases maintain the fidelity during protein synthesis by selective activation of cognate amino acids at the aminoacylation site and hydrolysis of misformed aminoacyl-tRNAs at the editing site. Threonyl-tRNA synthetase (ThrRS) misactivates serine and utilizes an editing site cysteine (C182 in Escherichia coli) to hydrolyze Ser-tRNA(Thr). Hydrogen peroxide oxidizes C182, leading to Ser-tRNA(Thr) production and mistranslation of threonine codons as serine. The mechanism of C182 oxidation remains unclear. Here we used a chemical probe to demonstrate that C182 was oxidized to sulfenic acid by air, hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite. Aminoacylation experiments in vitro showed that air oxidation increased the Ser-tRNA(Thr) level in the presence of elongation factor Tu. C182 forms a putative metal binding site with three conserved histidine residues (H73, H77 and H186). We showed that H73 and H186, but not H77, were critical for activating C182 for oxidation. Addition of zinc or nickel ions inhibited C182 oxidation by hydrogen peroxide. These results led us to propose a model for C182 oxidation, which could serve as a paradigm for the poorly understood activation mechanisms of protein cysteine residues. Our work also suggests that bacteria may use ThrRS editing to sense the oxidant levels in the environment.
Project description:Altering the genetic code for applications in synthetic biology and genetic code expansion involves engineered tRNAs that incorporate amino acids that differ from what is defined by the “standard” genetic code. Since these engineered tRNA variants can be lethal due to proteotoxic stress, regulating their expression is necessary to achieve high levels of the resulting novel proteins. Mechanisms to positively regulate transcription with exogenous activator proteins like those often used to regulate RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) transcribed genes are not applicable to tRNAs as their expression by RNA polymerase III requires elements internal to the tRNA. Here, we show that tRNA expression is repressed by overlapping transcription from an adjacent RNAP II promoter. Regulating the expression of the RNAP II promoter allows inverse regulation of the tRNA. Placing either Gal4 or TetR-VP16 activated promoters downstream of a mistranslating tRNA serine variant that mis-incorporates serine at proline codons in Saccharomyces cerevisiae allows mistranslation at a level not otherwise possible because of the toxicity of the unregulated tRNA. Using mass spectrometry, we determine th frequency of mistranslation in both the induced and repressed conditions of the galactose inducible and tetracycline inducible systems.