Two-domain structure of alanyl-tRNA synthetase from Bombyx mori: isolation of the N-terminal catalytic domain.

Alanyl-tRNA synthetase of 115K daltons from Bombyx mori was cleaved into two fragments of 62K and 47K daltons by trypsin. The 47K fragment was active in aminoacylation of tRNA, whereas the 62K fragment was inactive. The 47K and 62K fragments were found to be located at the N- and C-terminal ends, respectively, in the intact enzyme. The intact enzyme was protected from trypsin-attack by the cognate tRNA. The Km value of the 47K fragment for tRNA was 22 microM which is about 16-fold higher than that for the intact enzyme (1.4 microM). The molecular activities of the fragment and the intact enzyme were 2.2 s-1 and 16.8 s-1, respectively. This indicates that the 62K domain enhances affinity for tRNA and it is responsible for the full activity of tRNA aminoacylation. These results do not support the "covalently linked dimer" hypothesis, but indicate that the alanyl-tRNA synthetase is a functional monomer consisting two large domains.