|
type |
Journal Article |
authors |
Kaiser J.T.; Gromadski K.; Rother M.; Engelhardt H.; Rodnina M.V.; Wahl M.C. |
title |
Structural and functional investigation of a putative archaeal selenocysteine synthase |
journal |
Biochemistry |
Activity |
2.9.1.1 |
Family |
2.9.1.1 |
PLP Fold Type |
1 |
ui |
16201757 |
year |
(2005) |
volume |
44 |
number |
40 |
pages |
13315-13327 |
| |
keywords |
archaea, selenocysteine synthase, divergent function |
abstract |
Bacterial selenocysteine synthase converts seryl-tRNA(Sec) to selenocysteinyl-tRNA(Sec) for selenoprotein biosynthesis. The identity of this enzyme in archaea and eukaryotes is unknown. On the basis of sequence similarity, a conserved open reading frame has been annotated as a selenocysteine synthase gene in archaeal genomes. We have determined the crystal structure of the corresponding protein from Methanococcus jannaschii, MJ0158. The protein was found to be dimeric with a distinctive domain arrangement and an exposed active site, built from residues of the large domain of one protomer alone. The shape of the dimer is reminiscent of a substructure of the decameric Escherichia coli selenocysteine synthase seen in electron microscopic projections. However, biochemical analyses demonstrated that MJ0158 lacked affinity for E. coli seryl-tRNA(Sec) or M. jannaschii seryl-tRNA(Sec), and neither substrate was directly converted to selenocysteinyl-tRNA(Sec) by MJ0158 when supplied with selenophosphate. We then tested a hypothetical M. jannaschii O-phosphoseryl-tRNA(Sec) kinase and demonstrated that the enzyme converts seryl-tRNA(Sec) to O-phosphoseryl-tRNA(Sec) that could constitute an activated intermediate for selenocysteinyl-tRNA(Sec) production. MJ0158 also failed to convert O-phosphoseryl-tRNA(Sec) to selenocysteinyl-tRNA(Sec). In contrast, both archaeal and bacterial seryl-tRNA synthetases were able to charge both archaeal and bacterial tRNA(Sec) with serine, and E. coli selenocysteine synthase converted both types of seryl-tRNA(Sec) to selenocysteinyl-tRNA(Sec). These findings demonstrate that a number of factors from the selenoprotein biosynthesis machineries are cross-reactive between the bacterial and the archaeal systems but that MJ0158 either does not encode a selenocysteine synthase or requires additional factors for activity. |
last changed |
2014/07/01 10:09 |
|