TRNA.

Transfer RNA (tRNA) Transfer RNAs are relatively small nucleic acids containing only about 70 nucleotides They get their name because they transfer ammo acids to the ribosome for incorporation into a polypeptide Although 20 ammo acids need to be transferred there are 50-60 tRNAs some of which transfer the same ammo acids Figure 28 11 shows the structure of phenylalanine tRNA (tRNA ) Like all tRNAs it IS composed of a single strand with a characteristic shape that results from the presence of paired bases m some regions and their absence m others... 

Among the 76 nucleotides of tRNA are two sets of three that are especially important The first is a group of three bases called the anticodon, which is comple mentary to the mRNA codon for the ammo acid being transferred Table 28 3 lists two mRNA codons for phenylalanine UUU and UUC (reading m the 5 3 direction) Because base pairing requires the mRNA and tRNA to be antiparallel the two anticodons are read m the 3 5 direction as AAA and AAG... 

The other important sequence is the CCA triplet at the 3 end The ammo acid that IS to be transferred is attached through an ester linkage to the terminal 3 oxygen of this sequence All tRNAs have a CCA sequence at their 3 end... 

Transfer RNAs normally contain some bases other than AUG and C Of the 76 bases m tRNA for example 13 are of the modified variefy One of fhese marked G m Figure 28 11 is a modified guanosme m fhe anficodon Many of fhe modified bases including G are mefhylafed derivafives of fhe customary RNA bases... 

As described in the preceding sections protein synthesis involves transcription of the DNA to rtiRNA followed by translation of the mRNA as an amino acid sequence In addition to outlining the mechanics of transcription we have described the relationship among mRNA codons tRNA anticodons and ammo acids... 

In addition to illustrating the mechanics of translation Figure 28 12 is important m that It shows the mechanism of peptide bond formation as a straightforward nude ophilic acyl substitution Both methionine and alanine are attached to their respective tRNAs as esters The ammo group of alanine attacks the methionine carbonyl displac mg methionine from its tRNA and converting the carbonyl group of methionine from an ester to an amide function... 

FIGURE 28 12 Translation of mRNA to an ammo acid sequence of a protein starts at an mRNA codon for methionine Nucleophilic acyl substitution transfers the N formylmethionme residue from Its tRNA to the ammo group of the next ammo acid (shown here as alanine) The process converts an ester to an amide... 

The amino acid transferred to methionine is senne instead of alanine The senne tRNA sequence that is complementary to the UCU sequence of mRNA is AGA... 

Anticodon (Section 27 28) Sequence of three bases in a mole cule of tRNA that is complementary to the codon of mRNA for a particular ammo acid... 

Messenger RNA (mRNA) (Section 28 11) A polynucleotide of nbosethat reads the sequence of bases in DNA and inter acts with tRNAs in the nbosomes to promote protein biosynthesis... 

Transcription (Section 28 11) Construction of a strand of mRNA complementary to a DNA template Transfer RNA (tRNA) (Section 28 11) A polynucleotide of n hose that is bound at one end to a unique amino acid This ammo acid is incorporated into a growing peptide chain Transition state (Section 3 1) The point of maximum energy in an elementary step of a reaction mechanism Translation (Section 28 12) The reading of mRNA by van ous tRNAs each one of which is unique for a particular ammo acid... 

Page 1176 (Figure 28 11) is adapted from crystallographic coordinates deposited with the Protein Data Bank PDB ID 6TNA Sussman J L Holbrook S R Warrant R W Church G M Kim S H Crystal Structure of Yeast Phenylalanine tRNA I Crystallographic Refinement / Mol Biol 1978 126 607 (1978)... 

When the cell requires instructions for protein production, part of the code on DNA, starting at an initiator and ending at a stop codon, is converted into a more mobile form by transferring the DNA code into a matching RNA code on a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), a process known as transcription. The decoding, or translation, of mRNA then takes place by special transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNA), which recognize individual codons as amino acids. The sequence of amino acids is assembled into a protein (see Proteins section). In summary, the codes on DNA... 

TransferR A. Over 2000 sequences of tRNAs have been deterrnined and several tRNA crystal stmctures have been solved (20). In addition, the overall stmctures, as well as some specific nucleotides within the tRNA sequences, are highly conserved. The secondary stmcture (Fig. 9a) conforms to... 

Fig. 9. Stmctures of tRNA (a) secondary stmcture of tRNA, where conserved base pairs are indicated by lines and (b) tertiary stmcture.

Cellular protein biosynthesis involves the following steps. One strand of double-stranded DNA serves as a template strand for the synthesis of a complementary single-stranded messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in a process called transcription. This mRNA in turn serves as a template to direct the synthesis of the protein in a process called translation. The codons of the mRNA are read sequentially by transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, which bind specifically to the mRNA via triplets of nucleotides that are complementary to the particular codon, called an anticodon. Protein synthesis occurs on a ribosome, a complex consisting of more than 50 different proteins and several stmctural RNA molecules, which moves along the mRNA and mediates the binding of the tRNA molecules and the formation of the nascent peptide chain. The tRNA molecule carries an activated form of the specific amino acid to the ribosome where it is added to the end of the growing peptide chain. There is at least one tRNA for each amino acid. 

Selenocysteine was identified in 1976 (57) in a protein produced by Clostridium stricklandii, and it is thought to be the form in which selenium is incorporated, stoichiometricaHy, into proteins. Studies with rats show that over 80% of the dietary selenium given them is incorporated into proteins, thus selenocysteine takes on metaboHc importance. Selenoproteins having known enzymatic activities contain selenocysteine at the active sites. Two other forms of metabohc selenium are recognized methylated selenium compounds are synthesized for excretion, and selenium is incorporated into some transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNAs) in cultured cells (58). Some of the more important seleno-compounds are Hsted in Table 4. Examples of simple ring compounds are shown in Eigure 4. 

Amino-3 -deoxyadenosine. 3 -Amino-3 -deoxyadenosine (17) is elaborated by Cordyceps militarise Aspergillus nidulanSe and Helminthosporium (3,4). The biosynthesis proceeds direcdy from adenosine. Compound (17) inhibits RNA polymerase, but not DNA polymerase, and replaces the adenosyl residue at the 3 -terminus of tRNA. Phenylalanyl-(3 -amino-3 -deoxyadenosyl)-tRNA has acceptor but not donor activity (31,32). Compound (17) also inhibits retroviral RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (33). 

Puromycin. Puromycin (19), elaborated by S. alboniger (1—4), inhibits protein synthesis by replacing aminoacyl-tRNA at the A-site of peptidyltransferase (48,49). Photosensitive analogues of (19) have been used to label the A-site proteins of peptidyltransferase and tRNA (30). Compound (19), and its carbocycHc analogue have been used to study the accumulation of glycoprotein-derived free sialooligosaccharides, accumulation of mRNA, methylase activity, enzyme transport, rat embryo development, the acceptor site of human placental 80S ribosomes, and gene expression in mammalian cells (51—60). 

Aminohexose Nucleosides. The 4-aminohexose nucleosides (128—140) are Hsted in Table 7 (1—4,240—242). A biosynthetic relationship between the 4-aminohexose peptidyl nucleoside antibiotics and the pentopyranines has been proposed (1). The 4-aminohexose pyrimidine nucleoside antibiotics block peptidyl transferase activity and inhibit transfer of amino acids from aminoacyl-tRNA to polypeptides. Hikizimycin, gougerotin, amicetin, and blasticidin S bind to the peptidyl transferase center at overlapping sites (243). 

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