As is found by atomic absorption spectroscopy, the highly purified bovine tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase contains up to 0.9 mol Zn2+/mol enzyme while some other bivalent metal ions are absent. The enzyme is inactivated either upon treatment with 1 ,lO-phenanthroline (a zinc-chelating agent) or upon prolonged dialysis (which eliminates bound Zn2+ ions); addition of zinc reactivates the enzyme. Exposed histidine residue(s) and carboxylic group(s) of the enzyme are involved in the Zn2+ binding, as is shown using chemical modification. Circular dichroism spectra suggest that elimination of Zn2 + ions affects the tertiary rather than the secondary structure of the tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase. The kinetics of inhibition with 1,lO-phenanthroline toward ATP, tryptophan and tRNATrp indicates that removal of zinc prevents the ATP binding to the enzyme.Many enzymes of nucleic acid metabolism, viz. D N A polymerase, RNA polymerase, terminal nudeotidyltransferase, poly(A) polymerase, etc. (see [1,2]), contain zinc ions. These enzymes are inactivated in the presence of 1 ,lo-phenanthroline, a chelating agent with a high affinity for ZnZt [3].It has long been known that the activity of certain Eschcvichiu coli aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases is inhibited with phenanthroline [4]. Hence, bivalent metal (iron, cadmium, zinc, or manganese) ions may be involved in the functioning of these enzymes. Zinc essential for the activity and manganese have recently been found in E. coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase [5]. Zinc ions are involved in the tRNA-independent ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by yeast phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase [6]. The Zn2+ ion (0.94 mol/mol enzyme) unessential for the aminoacylation activity has been found in E. coli isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase [7].The purpose of this work is to clarify whether tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase ( M , 120000, ~2 ) from beef pancreas belongs to the group of metalloenzymes and what is the role of zinc in the enzymatic functioning. This enzyme is the best studied aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase from multicellular organisms [8].
MATERIALS AND METHODSThe following reagents were used in the experiments : ATP, Tris (Reanal) ; L-tryptophan (Sigma) ; sodium pyrophosphate (Merck) ; dithiothreitol, diethylpyrocarbonate and 4-niorpholinepropanesulfonic acid (Mops, Serva) ; 2-mercaptoethanol (Calbiochem); cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (cetavlon) and nitrocellulose filters Synpor 3 and 6 (Chemapol); chelating resin Chelex-100 (Bio-Rad); Sephadex (3-100 and (3-50, fine grade (Pharmacia Fine Chemicals); diphenylthiocarbazone (ditizone), 1,lO-phenanthroline and Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase was isolated from beef pancreas as described elsewhere [8]. The preparation was homogeneous after gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. The protein concentration was determined spectrophotometrically at 280 nm using the coefficient A@,,, = 0.90 [8]. The activity of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase in the ATP-[32P]pyrophosphate exchange and the tRNA aminoacylation reactions was assayed as in [8].Solutions were prepared with deionized...