ABSTRACT
A consensus has been reached that the conformation of the anticodon-codon interactions of two adjacent tRNA molecules on the ribosome is a
Sundaralingam-type (S-type). Even if it is kept to the S-type, there are still various possibilities. Various
experimental data have been supporting an idea that the conformation of A-site tRNA is different from that of P-site tRNA. Those data as well as the recent result of Brimacombe and
co-workers that U20:1 of lupin tRNA
m
Met
bound to the A-site was cross-linked to a region, 875-905, of 23S rRNA in combination with the other recent
findings of Nierhaus and co-workers about the spin-contrast method of neutron diffraction of the ribosome and the
better accessible nucleotide patterns of phosphorothioated tRNAs on the ribosome have led to a new tRNA docking pair model, in
which the highly conserved G18 and G19 of D-loop in A-site tRNA and C56 and C61 of T
[psi]
C-loop in P-site tRNA base pair along with the conventional base pairs of
adjacent codon-anticodon interactions. This A-P tRNA pair model can be translocated to the P-E tRNA pair model without changing the conformation except the ACCA termini, keeping the position of the growing nascent polypeptide chain.
In the course of the elongation cycle of protein synthesis, aminoacyl-, peptidyl- and deacylated tRNAs bind to mRNA- programmed ribosome in the A (acceptor), P (peptidyl), and E
(exit) sites, respectively. The A- and P-site bound tRNAs participate in the elongation of the peptide bond and, then, translocate to the
P- and E-sites as peptidyl-tRNA and deacylated tRNA, respectively. When a new aminoacyl-tRNA binds to the ribosome as a complex with EF-Tu and GTP in the recognition mode of A-site, the deacylated tRNA in the E-site plays an important role in
maintaining translational accuracy (
1
). Taking into account most of the tRNA-ribosome cross-linking data as well as the location of the EF-Tu binding site on the 50S ribosomal subunit and the most
reasonable orientation of mRNA in the decoding site on the 30S subunit, the
disposition of the A-, P- and E-site tRNAs on the ribosome has been a matter of debate (
2
) as to whether the arrangement of the anticodons of P- and A-site tRNAs is Rich-type (R-type) (
3
) or Sundaralingam-type (S-type) (
4
), and has recently reached a consensus that the S-type arrangement is correct (
5
-
7
). Based on such a consideration, Zimmermann and co-workers have presented an S-type side-by-side model of the A-, P- and E-site tRNAs with three L-shaped cylindrical forms (
8
,
9
). However, if we concentrate our attention on the spatial distributions of
cross-linking positions from the nucleotides on the tRNA molecules to ribosomal
protein (r-protein) L27 and 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), it cannot be fully explained by
such a simple disposition of crystallographically obtained L-shaped tRNA conformations (
10
-
13
). The purpose of the present paper is to show how an introduction of drastic
conformational changes in both A- and P-site tRNAs is essential and to present a new tRNA pair model in
which two tRNA molecules are bound together besides the codon-anticodon base pairs. The atomic coordinates of the A-P transpeptidation model are available on request.
The nucleotide sequence of
E.coli
tRNA
3
Ser
has been determined (
14
). It is known that the variable arm (viz. stem and loop) of tRNA
3
Ser
from
E.coli
is the largest among the other tRNA molecules studied so far (
20
-
24
). A question was necessarily raised as to whether the localizations of three
tRNA molecules at the A, P and E sites could be the same as previously
predicted (
25
). Since the high resolution atomic coordinates of tRNA
3
Ser
are not yet available in the PDB, although its 3D structure has appeared as
part of a complex with tRNA synthetase (
26
,
27
), we assumed an artificial and hypothetical chimeric tRNA molecule having the
main part of yeast tRNA
Phe
(
15
) except three nucleotides G
m
7
GU at positions from 45 to 47 and a helix of
E.coli
tRNA
3
Ser
46-52(AUGCGGU)/58-64(GCUGCAU) with a loop 53-57(CAAAA). [It is known that the loop of
Thermus thermophilus
tRNA
2
Ser
(
27
) is longer than that of
E.coli
tRNA
3
Ser
by one nucleotide.] When three of the chimeric tRNA molecules were arranged in
the above mentioned A, P and E sites (
25
), the shortest contact between two adjacent tRNA molecules from P- to A-site or from E- to P-site was 2.99 Å (between C and O atoms) after refinement by
application of AMBER program (
18
).
In order to present the most reasonable 3D structure of
E.coli
ribosome during the elongation cycle, information about the localization of
tRNA molecules is at the pivot of the whole problem. The question as to whether
the relative arrangement of two tRNA molecules at the A and P sites with mRNA
codons is of an R-type (
3
) or S-type orientation (
4
) is of vital importance. Lim
et al
. (
2
) have reviewed the problem and concluded that the R-type seemed more favourable. On the other hand, the interpretation of
experimental data obtained by Zimmermann's group (
28
,
29
) became coincident with the S-type model of Nagano
et al.
(
25
), in which the angle of two L-shaped tRNA planes was 50o and an ideal A-form conformation was introduced at the anticodon loops of A- and P-site tRNAs. Brimacombe (
7
) has recently described why he believes that the conclusion of Lim
et al
. (
2
) was wrong. They fitted their rRNA models along with a pair of tRNAs to the
cryo-electron microscopic map of the 70S
E.coli
ribosome at 23 Å resolution (
30
). The angle of their tRNA model between the two crystallographically observed L-shaped conformations was 90o (R. Brimacombe, personal communication).
Figure
Figure Table 1
Agrawal
et al.
(
31
) were able to localize A-, P- and E-site tRNAs in the
E.coli
ribosome from the difference map of two cryo-electron microscopy, one in the presence of three deacylated tRNAs and the other
in the absence of tRNAs (
32
). The angle of the two planes representing the tRNAs bound to the A and P sites
was found to be ~160o, and quite different from the angles expected from either R- or S-type configurations. Moreover, the anticodon loop of the
putative E-site tRNA was not bound to mRNA. This might mean that the E-site tRNA was noncognate. However, their results might not be the
same as those that would have been obtained if they had used aminoacyl- and peptidyl-tRNAs, because two deacylated tRNA molecules do not have to contact
with each other at their CCA ends, and also because aminoacyl-, peptidyl- and deacylated tRNAs do not bind to the ribosome at a time with sufficient stability. In contrast, the results of spin-contrast method of neutron diffraction presented a pair of tRNA
molecules forming a very similar side-by-side shape with a pseudo-R-type angle of two tRNA planes between 50o and 55o on the
E.coli
ribosome both at the pre- and the post-translocational states (
33
; K.H.Nierhaus, personal communication). It should not be interpreted as R-type, because S-type is more favourable from the viewpoint of Nagano and Harel (
5
), Easterwood
et al.
(
6
) and Brimacombe (
7
), so far as the conformation of the anticodon loops bound to the neibouring
codons is concerned. Therefore, it suggested that some conformational changes
were involved during the pre- and the post-translocational states, as confirmed by the following. The better
accessible nucleotide patterns of phosphorothioated tRNAs on the ribosome were
quite different from those of isolated tRNAs and indicated conformational
changes of tRNAs resulting in the formation of three types of binding sites
called [alpha], [epsilon] and [delta] (
33
). The conventional A and E sites can be interpreted as the [alpha]-site of pre-translocational state and the [epsilon]-site of post-translocational state, respectively, while
the conventional P-site should be distinguished into the [epsilon]-site of pre-translocational state and the [alpha]-site of post-translocational state. In other
words, the two sites on the ribosome allowed for two tRNA molecules are [alpha] and [epsilon] sites for both pre- and post-translocational states. The binding site [delta] corresponds to the recognition mode of A-site only at the post-translocational state. These new
findings can be explained by the S-type model of Nagano
et al.
(
25
) by introducing drastic conformational changes of D-loop in [alpha]-site tRNA, and also of T[psi]C-loop and acceptor stem in [epsilon]-site tRNA as well as by forming two G-C base pairs between the highly
conserved guanines at positions 18 and 19 of the D-loop of [alpha]-site tRNA of A-P pair or P-E pair and cytosines at positions 56 and 61 of
the T[psi]C-loop of [epsilon]-site tRNA of A-P pair or P-E pair. Such a pair of tRNA docking model
was energetically refined. The A-P pair model is shown in Figure
1
a and b as coloured stereo pictures. The two G-C base pairs are magnified in Figure
1
b. The nucleotide sequence of the tRNA molecules shown in Figure
1
is that of yeast tRNA
Phe
.
By adding the largest variable loop of
E.coli
tRNA
3
Ser
, the model of the chimeric A-P tRNA pair was built. The stereo picture of the chimeric A-P tRNA pair with the largest variable loop is viewed from the
anticodon loop and mRNA down the axis of rotation symmetry of the ribosomal
three-tRNA binding model (
25
), as shown in Figure
2
, which is perpendicular to the view of Figure
1
. It can be seen from Figure
2
that various sizes of variable loops do not disturb the binding to mRNA at the
anticodons in both A- and P-site tRNAs because variable loops are directing outwards from the
axis of rotation symmetry, which is very close to the mRNA. Some of the 16S
rRNA regions as well as mRNA surrounding the A-P pair are also shown in Figure
2
without any description about the logical bases of their localizations (K.Nagano and N.Nagano, unpublished results). It was important for the passage of mRNA to
take into account the cross-linking data of Bogdanov
et al.
(
34
).
The P-E tRNA pair was obtained by rotating it by 50o around the axis of rotation symmetry. The conformations of the anticodons of A-, P- and E-tRNAs bound to the mRNA codons of both A-P and P-E tRNA pairs are the same as those of
three tRNAs of the Nagano
et al.
model (
25
), while the conformations of ACCA termini are different so that a helical form
of nascent polypeptide is kept at the same positions before and after the
translocation. Such a model around the ACCA termini of both P- and E-site tRNAs of the P-E tRNA pair as well as of nascent polypeptide is shown in
Figure
3
. Thus, the A-P tRNA pair model, shown in Figure
1
a, has a transitionary tetrahedral C' atom of the nascent polypeptide directly connected with the amino
nitrogen atom of the aminoacyl group of A-site tRNA, while the 3'-ends of both E- and P-site tRNAs of the P-E tRNA pair are separated by 38.5 Å (between two O3' atoms) with each other. The
shifting distance of the centres of gravity between the A-P and P-E tRNA pairs was calculated to be 25.0 Å, which is about twice as large as the appoximated value, 13 Å, in the direction from the L7/L12 stalk to the L1
stalk of the ribosome, observed by Nierhaus and co-workers (
33
). It is important to note that the anticodon position of the P-site tRNA in the A-P tRNA pair model [viz. [epsilon] site of pre-translocational state (
33
)] is kept at the same position as that of the P-site tRNA in the P-E tRNA pair model [viz. [alpha] site of post-translocational state (
33
)]. This might not be true in the actual ribosome. The P-E tRNA pair could be better represented by rotating the A-P tRNA pair by 25o around the symmetry axis instead of 50o. It might be very confusing, however, because various biochemical and functional
experiments such as cross- linking have been performed under a common name of P-site tRNA, if the P-site in the pre-translocational state (or in the A-P tRNA pair model) is different from that in the
post- translocational state (or in the P-E tRNA pair model).
Footprinting experiments of Jørgensen
et al.
(
36
) revealed differences in the T[psi]C- and D-loops of tRNAs bound to the P and A sites. Bertram
et al.
(
37
) found a protection against kethoxal modification of G18 and G19 of tRNA
Phe
in the A-site. Furthermore, Abdurashidova
et al.
(
38
) found that a rather small protein, L27, was cross-linked from both G18 of A-site tRNA and C56 of P-site tRNA. The tRNA-ribosome cross-linking data from the papers of Zimmermann's group
(
8
,
9
) and Brimacombe's group (
39
) are summarized in Table
1
. The most serious problem is to explain cross-linking data from position 20:1 of lupin Met-tRNA located at the A-site to the nucleotide somewhere from position 875 to 905 of
23S rRNA (
39
), suggesting a drastic conformational change in the A-site tRNA. The reason for this will be discussed later. Those cross-linking positions on the tRNA molecules of the ribosome are
satisfied by our model with the chimeric largest variable loops, as shown by the Chem3D stereo picture in Figure
4
a and b. The A-P tRNA pair in Figure
4
b is the same as that in Figure
4
a except that the labels showing the cross-linking r-proteins and rRNAs and viewed from a slightly different direction
from the corresponding model in Figure
4
a with some notations of D-loop (D), T[psi]C-loop ([psi]), and the largest variable loops (V). In Figure
4
b the E-site tRNA in the P-E tRNA pair model [viz. [epsilon] site of post-translocational state (
33
)] along with its mRNA is also superimposed with some relevant cross-link labels. Figure
4
c shows the same cross-linking positions as those in Figure
4
a (except S19, L5 and L27 for U47 on the P-site tRNA because of no suitable space) on the 3D model of Brimacombe's
group (
30
), which was built by rotating a crystallographically obtained tRNA conformation
with the same largest variable loop as in Figure
4
a by 90o and by connecting the two tRNA models with two adjacent codons. The
distance between two O3' atoms of A76 of both A- and P-site tRNAs is 10 Å. It can be seen that the two points, C and D, appear
on the opposite sides of its P-site tRNA, and that the line from A to B separates the A-site tRNA from the P-site tRNA. On the other hand, point B in Figure
4
a lies on the bottom of a cavity made by three triangular planes, ACB, CDB and
DAB, and both A- and P-site tRNA molecules sit almost without serious invasions to those
putative surfaces of 23S rRNAs. Figure
4
d shows the distributions of the cross-linking positions only for A, B, C and D as well as for the r-proteins, S7 and L27, on the 3D model of Frank's group (
31
), which was also built by the same method as that used in Figure
4
c by rotating one tRNA model by 160o and by connecting the two tRNA models with two adjacent codons so as to
avoid serious inter-atomic collisions, resulting in a sharp turn at the joint of two codons.
The distance between two O3' atoms of A76 of both A- and P-site tRNAs in this model is 15 Å.
The largest distances between two cross-linking positions to r-proteins L27, L2 and S7 on the three models are calculated and
listed in Table
2
. L27, L2 and S7 are composed of 84, 272 and 177 residues, respectively (
52
). Since both L2 and S7 are rather large, their largest distances on the models
might be alright. However, L27 is a small protein, and its largest distances on
both the Stark
et al.
(
30
) and Agrawal
et al.
models (
31
) seems too large when those values such as 85 Å * 60 Å and 100 Å * 60 Å, respectively, are compared with the
approximate size of a crystal structure of a moderately sized protein of 124
residues, bovine pancreatic ribonuclease-S (
53
), 45 Å * 30 Å * 20 Å. It must be kept in mind that the possible
conformation of L27, which seems to be more elongated and curved than that of
ribonuclease-S, should not hinder the A-P tRNA pair model from translocating to the P-E tRNA pair model, and also the P-E tRNA pair model from accepting the next cognate
aminoacyl-tRNA model at the right place of the recognition mode of A-site, viz. [delta] site in the post- translocational state of the ribosome (
33
).
Table 2
The distances of our model between the bases of the nucleotides at positions 37-37 (from A-site to P-site), 37-17 (from A-site to P-site), 17-37 (from A-site to P-site) and 17-17 (from A-site to P-site) are compared with the corresponding distance values estimated from the FRET measurements (
54
,
55
) and tabulated in Table
3
for the above three models with the chimeric largest variable loops along with
the three models cited from Easterwood
et al.
(
6
). As far as the scores for two kinds of ranks in Table
3
are concerned, the McDonald and Rein model (
56
) is almost as good as our present model. It is also an S-type side-by-side model, but does not explain the base pairing possibility
of G18 and G19 (
37
).
Another problem is the possibility of a conformational change at the anticodon
loop of tRNAs. Nagano
et al.
(
25
) have obtained a three-tRNA binding model, in which an ideal A-form conformation of the anticodon is introduced and results in a fully exposed base
of U33. It is known that the base of U33 is buried in the anticodon loop with a
hydrogen bond between the N3 atom of U33 and the O5' atom of A36 (see Fig. 5c of ref.
12
) of yeast tRNA
Phe
structure obtained by crystallography. We think that the conformational change
in the anticodon loop could be essential for a codon to discriminate a cognate
aminoacyl-tRNA from near-cognate and noncognate ones (K.Nagano and N.Nagano, unpublished
results). The photoreactive cross-link from s
4
U33 to r-protein S7 (
9
), in Table
1
, seems to favour such an exposed U33 base conformation (
25
). As shown in Figure
4
a, the two cross- linking positions to S7, viz. U33 and Y37, appear very close to each
other, while those of both Figure
4
c and d come on the opposite sides of the respective anticodon loops. If we
seriously consider the possibility of modelling the regions of 16S rRNA,
particularly around the decoding site C1400 as well as the 693-717, 936-966 and 1338-1378 of 16S rRNA, the spatial distribution of three S7
cross-linking points, U33 and Y37 of P-site tRNA and Y37 of A-site tRNA in Figure
4
c and d, would be almost the hardest obstacle to be overcome, although it might
be just circumstantial evidence. We propose here a new tRNA binding model on
the ribosome, as shown in Figures
1
,
2
,
3
and
4
a and b, before going further to make clear the mechanism of translation.
Table 3
Comparison of distances calculated from various two tRNA-binding models of S- and R-orientations compared with the experimentally estimated
distances of FRET measurements
It has been known for years that the nucleotide one residue upstream on the 5' side of the anticodon is uracil with the exception of a few eukaryotic
initiator tRNAs which have C33 (
57
) and elongator tRNAs of six
Candida
species which have G33 (
58
,
59
). In so far as a single base pairing is concerned, an A-G pairing could have a similar geometry to the ordinary A-U pairing (
60
,
61
). Another advantage of U33 could be the smaller size of the pyrimidine base
rather than the purine base, particularly when a drastic conformational change
occurs on the pyrimidine-rich 5' side of the anticodon loop.
Woo
et al.
(
62
) have found that U33 of yeast initiator tRNA
fMet
has a half exposed U33, and have proposed a uridine swivel hypothesis. If we
consider that the initiator tRNA occupies directly the P-site, it does not contradict our present models at all.
It is known that aminoacyl-, peptidyl- and deacylated tRNAs do not bind to the ribosome at a time with
sufficient stability. In the model of Nagano
et al.
(
25
), three equivalent tRNA molecules are arranged with symmetry of rotation,
suggesting considerable binding stability. One of the important points of the A-P and P-E tRNA pair models presented in this work is that the binding
capacity between the two tRNA molecules cannot be extended to three adjacent
tRNA molecules. That is to say, when another tRNA molecule comes to join the
tRNA complex, one must leave the complex simultaneously, as well known
experimentally. This is because the D-stem of A-site tRNA in the A-P tRNA pair (or P-site tRNA in the P-E tRNA pair) is too close to the axis of rotation
symmetry to harmonize with the geometry of the anticodon loops and mRNA.
Accordingly, if three tRNAs must bind to the ribosome at a time, at least one
of them should take a different conformation, as is the case for aminoacyl-tRNA in the recognition mode of A-site.
It has not been known that helix 38 (868-909) of 23S rRNA is highly conserved and bind to either a r-protein or a specific region of tRNA before position 20:1 of lupin
tRNA
Met
is found to be cross-linked to it (
63
). This is why Mitchell
et al.
(
64
) had located it at the solvent side of the 50S subunit, far away from the
ribosomal A-site. On the other hand, the A-site-bound tRNA is surrounded by highly conserved rRNA regions and
r-protein L2. Considering that the P-site bound tRNA is situated between the L1 stalk and the central
protuberance of the ribosome, as can be seen from the distributions of the
cross-linking positions on the models shown in Figure
4
a-d, and that the 3' end regions of both A- and P-site tRNAs are surrounded by the 23S rRNA region of
peptidyl transferase centre, where L2 functions covering the range from 1757 to
2010 of 23S rRNA (
65
), there would be almost no space for the position 20:1 of crystallographically
observed L-shaped tRNA structure to be bound to the loop end of helix 38 of 23S rRNA
without shutting down the entrance of the next A-site tRNA. It would be much clearer if we think that position 8 of A-site tRNA, which is located on the opposite side of the crystal
structure of tRNA, also cross-links to the same loop end, as shown by A2 in Table
1
and Figure
4
b, and that position 47 of A-site tRNA cross-links to the head of helix 89 of 23S rRNA (G in Table
1
and Fig.
4
b), which is known to be located near the L7/L12 stalk of the ribosome (
63
,
66
). On the contrary, the point D1 in Table
1
is not shown in Figure
4
b, because the cross-linking position to 2309 of 23S rRNA, which is too close to those of D and
D2 in Figure
4
b, could not be satisfied with the present model of A-site tRNA in the A-P pair of the pre-translocational state. We think that this state of cross-linking could be realized in the recognition mode of A-site, which holds a low affinity aminoacyl- tRNA binding ([delta] site;
33
). We have built such a model, in which position 47 of P-site tRNA is very close to position 20 of the tRNA at the site (K.Nagano
and N.Nagano, unpublished data). The points H and H1 in Figure
4
b could also be better explained by such a mechanism. The distribution of the
cross-linking positions from the aminoacyl-end (N) in Table
1
(
48
,
67
,
68
) could be the result of dynamic character at the highly conserved rRNA region
at the peptidyl transferase centre. This kind of flexibility in the rRNA
structure must be taken into account for explaining the distribution of rRNA cross-linking positions shown in Figure
4
b.
The experimental data accumulated so far with respect to tRNA molecules on the
ribosome and their environmental r-proteins and rRNAs can be understood by a new ribosomal three-tRNA binding model better than by the other conventional models. It
is an S-type side-by-side model, in which two adjacent tRNA molecules are bound
together via two highly conserved D-loop and T[psi]C-loop regions in addition to the adjacent codon-anticodon base pairings. We hope we could extend the present
method towards a reasonable tertiary structure prediction for r-proteins such as L27 and L2.
We are grateful to Drs K. H. Nierhaus and R. Brimacombe of Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany, for various suggestions and useful
discussions. We also thank Dr N. Tomioka of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of Tokyo, for helping us to use the AMBER program.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +81 3 3964 3241; Fax: +81 3
3579 4776; Email: knagano@info.ncc.go.jp


cont...
a, Taken from Paulsen
et al.
(55).
b, Average of two models calculated by McDonald and Rein (56).
c, Cited from Easterwood
et al.
(6).
d, Summation of absolute distance values outside the the experimentally
permissible ranges,
viz. [Sigma][brvbar]r
i,model
- r
i,nearest premissible
[brvbar].
e, Summation of absolute distance values deviated from the experimentally
expected mean value of distances,
viz. [Sigma][brvbar]r
i,model
- r
i,mean
[brvbar].
f, Reference number.
g, Distances for Nagano & Nagano model, Nagano
et al.
model (25), Stark
et al.
model (30) and Agrawal
et al.
model (31) were calculated using the coodinates of N1 atoms of pyrimidine bases
and N9 atoms of purine bases.
h, The increasing order of Score for Rank 1.
i, The increasing order of Score for Rank 2.
REFERENCES
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