A human autoantibody specific for a unique conserved region of 28 S ribosomal RNA inhibits the interaction of elongation factors 1 alpha and 2 with ribosomes.

An autoantibody reactive with a conserved sequence of 28 S rRNA (anti-28 S) was identified in serum from a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus. Anti-28 S protected a unique 59-nucleotide fragment synthesized in vitro against RNase T1 digestion. RNA sequence analysis revealed that it corresponded to residues 1944-2002 in human 28 S rRNA and 1767-1825 in mouse 28 S rRNA. These sequences are identical and highly conserved throughout all known eukaryotic 28 S rRNAs. In addition, this fragment is homologous to residues 1052-1110 of Escherichia coli 23 S rRNA that lies within the GTP hydrolysis center of the 50 S ribosomal subunit. Anti-28 S and its Fab fragments strongly inhibited poly(U)-directed polyphenylalanine synthesis, but had no effect on ribosomal peptidyltransferase activity. This effect resulted from inhibition of the binding of elongation factors EF-1 alpha and EF-2 to ribosomes and of the associated GTP hydrolysis. The inhibitory effect was almost completely suppressed by preincubation of anti-28 S with 28 S rRNA or in vitro synthesized RNA fragments containing the immunoreactive region. These results show that the immunoreactive conserved region of 28 S rRNA participates in the interaction of ribosomes with the two elongation factors in protein synthesis.