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Interaction of elongation factors EF-G and EF-Tu with a conserved loop in 23S RNA

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Abstract

The elongation factors EF-Tu and EF-G interact with ribosomes during protein synthesis1,2: EF-Tu presents incoming aminoacyl transfer RNA to the programmed ribosome as an EF-Tu-GTP-tRNA ternary complex and EF-G promotes translocation of peptidyl-tRNA and its associated messenger RNA from the A to the P site after peptidyl transfer. Both events are accompanied by ribosome-dependent GTP hydrolysis. Here we use chemical probes to investigate the possible interaction of these factors with ribosomal RNA in E. coli ribosomes. We observe EF-G-dependent footprints in vitro and in vivo around position 1,067 in domain II of 23S rRNA, and in the loop around position 2,660 in domain VI. EF-Tu gives an overlapping footprint in vitro at positions 2,655 and 2,661, but shows no effect at position 1,067. The 1,067 region is the site of interaction of the antibiotic thiostrepton2, which prevents formation of the EF-G–GTP–ribosome complex and is a site for interaction with the GTPase-related protein L11 (ref. 3). The universally conserved loop in the 2,660 region4 is the site of attack by the RNA-directed cytotoxins α-sarcin5 and ricin6, whose effects abolish translation and include the loss of elongation factor-dependent functions7 in eukaryotic ribosomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thimann Laboratories, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Danesh Moazed, James M. Robertson & Harry F. Noller

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  1. Danesh Moazed
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  2. James M. Robertson
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  3. Harry F. Noller
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Moazed, D., Robertson, J. & Noller, H. Interaction of elongation factors EF-G and EF-Tu with a conserved loop in 23S RNA. Nature 334, 362–364 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/334362a0

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