The mitochondrial ribosome, which translates all mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)-encoded proteins, should be tightly regulated pre- and post-transcriptionally. Recently, we found RNA-DNA differences (RDDs) at human mitochondrial 16S (large) rRNA position 947 that were indicative of post-transcriptional modification. Here, we show that these 16S rRNA RDDs result from a 1-methyladenosine (m1A) modification introduced by TRMT61B, thus being the first vertebrate methyltransferase that modifies both tRNA and rRNAs. m1A947 is conserved in humans and all vertebrates having adenine at the corresponding mtDNA position (90% of vertebrates). However, this mtDNA base is a thymine in 10% of the vertebrates and a guanine in the 23S rRNA of 95% of bacteria, suggesting alternative evolutionary solutions. m1A, uridine, or guanine may stabilize the local structure of mitochondrial and bacterial ribosomes. Experimental assessment of genome-edited Escherichia coli showed that unmodified adenine caused impaired protein synthesis and growth. Our findings revealed a conserved mechanism of rRNA modification that has been selected instead of DNA mutations to enable proper mitochondrial ribosome function.
Cell-free protein synthesis offers a facile and rapid method for synthesizing, monitoring, analyzing, and purifying proteins from a DNA template. At the same time, genetic code expansion methods are gaining attention due to their ability to site-specifically incorporate unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins via ribosomal translation. These systems are based on the exogenous addition of an orthogonal translation system (OTS), comprising an orthogonal tRNA, and orthogonal aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (aaRS), to the cell-free reaction mixture. However, these components are unstable and their preparation is labor-intensive, hence introducing a major challenge to the system. Here, we report on an approach that significantly reduces the complexity, effort and time needed to express UAA-containing proteins while increasing stability and realizing maximal suppression efficiency. We demonstrate an endogenously introduced orthogonal pair that enables the use of the valuable yet insoluble pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase in a cell-free system, thereby expanding the genetic repertoire that can be utilized in vitro and enabling new possibilities for bioengineering. With the high stability and efficiency of our system, we offer an improved and accessible platform for UAA incorporation into proteins.
Protein synthesis in cells has been thoroughly investigated and characterized over the past 60 years. However, some fundamental issues remain unresolved, including the reasons for genetic code redundancy and codon bias. In this study, we changed the kinetics of the Eschrichia coli transcription and translation processes by mutating the promoter and ribosome binding domains and by using genetic code expansion. The results expose a counterintuitive phenomenon, whereby an increase in the initiation rates of transcription and translation lead to a decrease in protein expression. This effect can be rescued by introducing slow translating codons into the beginning of the gene, by shortening gene length or by reducing initiation rates. On the basis of the results, we developed a biophysical model, which suggests that the density of co-transcriptional-translation plays a role in bacterial protein synthesis. These findings indicate how cells use codon bias to tune translation speed and protein synthesis.
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