Nonprotein amino acid furanomycin, unlike isoleucine in chemical structure, is charged to isoleucine tRNA by isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase and incorporated into protein.

Nonprotein amino acid furanomycin was found to bind with Escherichia coli isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase (IleRS) almost as tightly as the substrate L-isoleucine. The conformation of furanomycin bound to the enzyme was determined by NMR analyses including the transferred nuclear Overhauser effect method. The conformation of IleRS-bound furanomycin was similar to that of L-isoleucine, although the chemical structure of furanomycin is unlike that of L-isoleucine. By E. coli IleRS, E. coli tRNAIle was charged with furanomycin as efficiently as with L-isoleucine. Furthermore, furanomycyl-tRNAIle was bound to polypeptide chain elongation factor Tu as tightly as isoleucyl-tRNAIle. Furanomycin was found to be incorporated into beta-lactamase precursor by in vitro protein biosynthesis. A newly designed amino acid will probably be incorporated into proteins, provided that the new amino acid takes a similar conformation as a protein-constituting amino acid in the active site of an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase.