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Exploring the evolutionary diversity and assembly modes of multi‐aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetase complexes: Lessons from unicellular organisms
Author(s) -
Laporte Daphné,
Huot Jonathan L.,
Bader Gaétan,
Enkler Ludovic,
Senger Bruno,
Becker Hubert Dominique
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.10.007
Subject(s) - aminoacyl trna synthetase , multicellular organism , biology , computational biology , function (biology) , transfer rna , functional diversity , translation (biology) , amino acyl trna synthetases , rna , evolutionary biology , biochemistry , ecology , gene , messenger rna
Aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are ubiquitous and ancient enzymes, mostly known for their essential role in generating aminoacylated tRNAs. During the last two decades, many aaRSs have been found to perform additional and equally crucial tasks outside translation. In metazoans, aaRSs have been shown to assemble, together with non‐enzymatic assembly proteins called aaRSs‐interacting multifunctional proteins (AIMPs), into so‐called multi‐synthetase complexes (MSCs). Metazoan MSCs are dynamic particles able to specifically release some of their constituents in response to a given stimulus. Upon their release from MSCs, aaRSs can reach other subcellular compartments, where they often participate to cellular processes that do not exploit their primary function of synthesizing aminoacyl‐tRNAs. The dynamics of MSCs and the expansion of the aaRSs functional repertoire are features that are so far thought to be restricted to higher and multicellular eukaryotes. However, much can be learnt about how MSCs are assembled and function from apparently ‘simple’ organisms. Here we provide an overview on the diversity of these MSCs, their composition, mode of assembly and the functions that their constituents, namely aaRSs and AIMPs, exert in unicellular organisms.