Selective synthesis of mitochondrial proteins by Chinese hamster ovary cells severely starved for various amino acids.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were subjected to severe amino acid starvation for histidine, leucine, methionine, asparagine, tyrosine, glutamine, valine, and lysine, using amino acid analogs or mutations in specific aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. At protein synthetic rates of less than 5%, in all cases, the newly synthesized proteins were found on two-dimensional electrophoretic gels to consist of a few intensely labeled spots, with the exception of lysine. This pattern could also be produced by strong inhibition of cytoplasmic protein synthesis with cycloheximide, and was abolished by preincubation with the mitochondrial protein synthesis inhibitor chloramphenicol. It appears therefore that the spots represent mitochondrial protein synthesis and that animal cells must have separate aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for mitochondrial tRNAs corresponding to all these amino acids except, possibly, for lysine.