Backbone Brackets and Arginine Tweezers delineate Class I and Class II aminoacyl tRNA synthetases.

ABSTRACT: The origin of the machinery that realizes protein biosynthesis in all organisms is still unclear. One key component of this machinery are aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS), which ligate tRNAs to amino acids while consuming ATP. Sequence analyses revealed that these enzymes can be divided into two complementary classes. Both classes differ significantly on a sequence and structural level, feature different reaction mechanisms, and occur in diverse oligomerization states. The one unifying aspect of both classes is their function of binding ATP. We identified Backbone Brackets and Arginine Tweezers as most compact ATP binding motifs characteristic for each Class. Geometric analysis shows a structural rearrangement of the Backbone Brackets upon ATP binding, indicating a general mechanism of al

SUBMITTER: Kaiser F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5919687 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature