Crystallographic analysis of a subcomplex of the transsulfursome with tRNA for Cys-tRNACys synthesis

Meirong Chen, Yuto Nakazawa, Yume Kubo, Nozomi Asano, Koji Kato, Isao Tanaka, Min Yao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In most organisms, Cys-tRNACys is directly synthesized by cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase (CysRS). Many methanogenic archaea, however, use a two-step, indirect pathway to synthesize Cys-tRNACys owing to a lack of CysRS and cysteine-biosynthesis systems. This reaction is catalyzed by O-phosphoseryl-tRNA synthetase (SepRS), Sep-tRNA:Cys-tRNA synthase (SepCysS) and SepRS/SepCysS pathway enhancer (SepCysE) as the transsulfursome, in which SepCysE connects both SepRS and SepCysS. On the transsulfursome, SepRS first ligates an O-phosphoserine to tRNACys, and the mischarged intermediate Sep-tRNACys is then transferred to SepCysS, where it is further modified to Cys-tRNACys. In this study, a subcomplex of the transsulfursome with tRNACys (SepCysS-SepCysE-tRNACys), which is involved in the second reaction step of the indirect pathway, was constructed and then crystallized. The crystals diffracted X-rays to a resolution of 2.6 Å and belonged to space group P6522, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 107.2, c = 551.1 Å. The structure determined by molecular replacement showed that the complex consists of a SepCysS dimer, a SepCysE dimer and one tRNACys in the asymmetric unit.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)569-572
Number of pages4
JournalActa Crystallographica Section:F Structural Biology Communications
Volume72
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cys-tRNA
  • SepCysE
  • SepCysS
  • SepRS
  • transsulfursome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Structural Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Genetics
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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