Translation termination in pyrrolysine-utilizing archaea

Alkalaeva, Elena; Eliseev, Boris; Ambrogelly, Alexandre; Vlasov, Peter; Kondrashov, Fyodor A.; Gundllapalli, Sharath; Frolova, Lyudmila; Söll, Dieter; Kisselev, Lev

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.09.044

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Volume 583, Issue 21 , Pages 3455-3460, 3 November 2009

Translation termination in pyrrolysine-utilizing archaea

Edited by Michael Ibba

In memory of Lev Kisselev

Elena Alkalaeva
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 32, Moscow 119991, Russia
Boris Eliseev
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 32, Moscow 119991, Russia
Alexandre Ambrogelly
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA
Peter Vlasov
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 32, Moscow 119991, Russia
Fyodor A. Kondrashov
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Sharath Gundllapalli
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA
Lyudmila Frolova
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 32, Moscow 119991, Russia
- Corresponding author. Fax: +7 (499) 135 14 05.
Dieter Söll
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA
Lev Kisselev
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilov str. 32, Moscow 119991, Russia
- Deceased April 12, 2008.

Received 28 August 2009; accepted 24 September 2009. published online 30 September 2009.

Abstract

Although some data link archaeal and eukaryotic translation, the overall mechanism of protein synthesis in archaea remains largely obscure. Both archaeal (aRF1) and eukaryotic (eRF1) single release factors recognize all three stop codons. The archaeal genus Methanosarcinaceae contains two aRF1 homologs, and also uses the UAG stop to encode the 22nd amino acid, pyrrolysine. Here we provide an analysis of the last stage of archaeal translation in pyrrolysine-utilizing species. We demonstrated that only one of two Methanosarcina barkeri aRF1 homologs possesses activity and recognizes all three stop codons. The second aRF1 homolog may have another unknown function. The mechanism of pyrrolysine incorporation in the Methanosarcinaceae is discussed.

Keywords: Translation termination, Archeon, Pyrrolysine-utilizing archea, aRF1, Polypeptide release factor