Balakin A, Skripkin E, Shatsky I, Bogdanov A
A.N. Belozersky Laboratory, Moscow State University, U.S.S.R.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1990 Aug 27;1050(1-3):119-23. doi: 10.1016/0167-4781(90)90151-q.
Using an RNA footprinting technique, accessible sites on the mRNA initiation region bound to the ribosome have been determined. Chemical probing experiments have been done both in the presence and absence of the initiator tRNA with dimethyl sulfate, kethoxal and carbodiimide as reagent probes. As an mRNA, a mini-mRNA containing the initiation region of bacteriophage lambda gene cro has been used. This region is characterized by a long single-stranded Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence followed by two hairpin structures of which the first one comprises in its loop the initiation codon. As compared to a free mRNA, the only nucleotides additionally protected in the binary mRNA-ribosome complex have been those which belong to the S-D sequence and the initiation codon. The protection of other nucleotides has not changed. Addition of the initiator RNA results in the modification of nucleotides in the stems of the downstream hairpin structures of the initiation region. This reflects their transition into a single-stranded conformation promoted by tRNA. A possible implication of these findings for the decoding process is discussed.
利用RNA足迹技术,已确定了与核糖体结合的mRNA起始区域上的可及位点。在有和没有起始tRNA的情况下,分别用硫酸二甲酯、乙二醛和碳二亚胺作为试剂探针进行了化学探测实验。作为mRNA,使用了一种包含噬菌体λ基因cro起始区域的微型mRNA。该区域的特征是有一个长的单链Shine-Dalgarno(SD)序列,其后跟着两个发夹结构,其中第一个发夹结构的环中包含起始密码子。与游离mRNA相比,在二元mRNA-核糖体复合物中额外受到保护的核苷酸仅属于S-D序列和起始密码子。其他核苷酸的保护情况没有变化。添加起始tRNA会导致起始区域下游发夹结构茎中的核苷酸发生修饰。这反映了它们在tRNA促进下转变为单链构象。讨论了这些发现对解码过程可能产生的影响。