Armless hairpin-like tRNAs in Romanomermis culicivorax: Evolutionary adaptation of a mitochondrial elongation factor EF-Tu.

ABSTRACT: tRNAs are central players in translation, delivering cognate amino acids to the ribosome. To fulfill this essential function, secondary and tertiary structures of tRNAs are highly conserved. In metazoan, however, several mitochondrial tRNAs show strong structural deviations and lack D- or T-arms. As these elements are important for the interaction with tRNA-binding proteins, these proteins are adapted to recognize such unusual targets. A prominent example is mitochondrial EF-Tu, delivering aminoacylated tRNAs to the ribosome. In nematode mitochondria, two variants of mt-EF-Tu exist. While mt-EF-Tu2 is specific for D-armless mt-tRNA^Ser, mt-EF-Tu1 recognizes the remaining 20 tRNAs. The most bizarre mt-tRNAs are found in Romanomermis culicivorax, where hairpin-like structures were

SUBMITTER: Bernier D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12221289 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature