Inhibition of in vitro translation

Figure 7. Inhibition of in vitro translation of tomato leaf mRNA by m G p. Quantities of 4 fig mRNA from wounded tomato leaves were translated and...

We have found that many compounds identified in our screen are nonspecific inhibitors of luciferase enzyme activity. To eliminate these, we test the hits in a luciferase enzyme-based counterscreen. Firefly and renilla luciferase are produced in vitro by programming Krebs-2 extracts with FF/HCV/Ren mRNA and allowing the translations to proceed at 30° for 1 h. Ten microliters are then pipetted into a 96-well plate and compound is added to a final concentration of 20 /iM (1% DMSO). Luciferase activity is then determined as described previously in step 3. Since compound is added only after the translation reaction is complete, inhibitors of translation should not score positively in this assay. Typically, a 1-ml in vitro translation reaction is sufficient to screen 45 candidate hits in duplicate for nonspecific luciferase inhibitory activity. Compounds that inhibit in this counterscreen are eliminated from future analysis. 

In a further experiment we assayed for the presence of a cap structure on the mRNAs for both Inhibitors I and II by competitive inhibition by 7-methyl-guanosine 5 -monophosphate (m G p) of the in vitro translation of these messengers. Concentrations of 40 pM m G p inhibited by 50% the in vitro translation of total tomato leaf poly(A)" " mRNA (Fig. 7A). This level is 40-fold lower than that required to similarly inhibit rabbit globin mRNA translated in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate (17) and 4-fold lower than that required to inhibit the same mRNA in a wheat germ system (18). It was of interest that the translation of Inhibitor I is inhibited to 50% by 20 pM m G p while 50% inhibition of Inhibitor II requires less than 10 pM (Fig. 7B). The basis of this difference is not understood but... 

Physical or chemical modification of a substrate may additionally selectively affect transformation or uptake Keil and Kirchman (1992) compared the degradation of Rubisco uniformly labeled with 3H amino acids produced via in vitro translation to Rubisco that was reductively methylated with 3H-methane. Although both Rubisco preparations were hydrolyzed to lower molecular weights at approximately the same rate, little of the methylated protein was assimilated or respired. The presence of one substrate may also inhibit uptake of another, as has been demonstrated for anaerobic rumen bacteria. Transport and metabolism of the monosaccharides xylose and arabinose were strongly reduced in Ruminococcus albus in the presence of cellobiose (a disaccharide of glucose), likely because of repression of pentose utilization in the presence of the disaccharide. Glucose, in contrast, competitively inhibited xylose transport and showed noncompetitive inhibition of arabinose transport, likely because of inactivation of arabinose permease (Thurston et al., 1994). 

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) was found to be important in catalyzing disulfide bond formation of antibody fragments, and it improved the efficiency of E. coli ribosome display of antibodies threefold when used during the in vitro translation reaction (Hanes and Pluckthun, 1997) (see also Section II, B). A fourfold improvement of ribosome display was observed when 1 OSa-RNA, which is involved in degradation of truncated proteins (see Section III, B, 2), was inhibited by using an antisense DNA oligonucleotide directed against the lOSa-RNA (Hanes and Pluckthun, 1997). 

Several studies employing oocytes of the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, for the in vitro translation of sodium channel encoding mRNAs (53-55) suggest that this experimental system may be particularly useful toward this end. The biophysical properties of sodium channels expressed in oocytes following injection of rat brain mRNA were similar to those of sodium channels in their native membrane environment, and were specifically inhibited by the sodium channel blockers tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin (i5.). Sodium channels encoded by mRNAs from rat skeletal muscle and eel electroplax have also been expressed in Xenopus oocytes (56-57). To date the expression of insect sodium channels in the Xenopus oocyte has not been reported, but the utility of this system for the translation and expression of insect acetylcholine receptor mRNA has recently been demonstrated (58). Successful application of this methodology to the expression of insect mRNAs encoding functional sodium channels offers a novel method to test some of the hypotheses for the molecular basis of the kdr mechanism. 

Multiple inhibitors In vitro translation extract Inhibition of translation initiation and elongation RNA and varied... 

These results are the first direct evidence for the regulation of chloroplast mRNA translation by interaction with thylakoid associated chloroplast factors. LS translation seemed to be subject to regulation by a thylakoid-associated factor which inhibited run-off and in vitro translation of LS mRNA (3t 4, 9). Translation of... 

As with other in vitro translation systems the use of crude extracts of radiolabeled amino acids, such as Translabel, should be avoided, as this will inhibit translation. 

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