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Three of four pseudoknots in tmRNA are interchangeable and are substitutable with single‐stranded RNAs
Author(s) -
Nameki Nobukazu,
Tadaki Toshimasa,
Himeno Hyouta,
Muto Akira
Publication year - 2000
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/s0014-5793(00)01349-1
Subject(s) - pseudoknot , ribosome , translation (biology) , transfer rna , rna , messenger rna , biology , computational biology , genetics , chemistry , gene
A novel translation, trans ‐translation, is facilitated by a highly structured RNA molecule, tmRNA. This molecule has two structural domains, a tRNA domain and an mRNA domain, the latter including four pseudoknot structures (PK1 to PK4). Here, we show that replacement of each of these pseudoknots, except PK1, in Escherichia coli tmRNA with a single stranded RNA did not seriously affect the functions as an alanine tRNA and as an mRNA. Furthermore, these three pseudoknots were interchangeable with only small losses of the two functions. These findings suggest that neither PK2, PK3 nor PK4 interacts in a functional manner with ribosome during the trans ‐translation process. Together with an earlier study showing the significance of PK1, it is concluded that among the four pseudoknots, PK1 is the most functional.