Competition between trichodermin and several other sesquiterpene antibiotics for binding to their receptor site(s) on eukaryotic ribosomes.

1. Of the five sesquiterpene antibiotics tested and found to inhibit protein synthesis in yeast spheroplasts, trichothecin, trichodermol or trichodermin stabilized polyribosomes whereas, in contrast, verrucarin A or T-2 toxin induced 'run off' of polyribosomes with a corresponding increase in 80S monoribosomes. The effect of fusarenon X on the system could not be determined as the drug failed to enter the cells. 2. [acetyl-14C]Trichodermin bound to yeast polyribosomes with a dissociation constant of 2.10 muM and to yeast 'run off' ribosomes with a dissociation constant of 0.72 muM. 3. Trichothecin, trichodermol, fusarenon X, T-2 toxin and verrucarin A competed with [acetyl-14C]trichodermin for binding to its receptor site on 'run off' ribosomes. The observed competition was quantitatively similar for all drugs tested. In contrast, the five drugs competed to different extents with trichodermin for binding to its receptor site on polyribosomes. Thus trichothecin competed with relative efficiency, whereas verrucarin A competed poorly, and the other drugs occupied intermediate positions between these two extremes. 4. Studies were also carried out with yeast 'run off' ribosomes prepared from both a wild-type strain and a strain resistant to trichodermin. Competition experiments between verrucarin A and [3H]anisomycin indicated that verrucarin A bound to 'run off' ribosomes from the mutant strain less efficiently than to those from the wild-type.