Eukaryotic life without tQCUG: the role of Elongator-dependent tRNA modifications in Dictyostelium discoideum.

ABSTRACT: In the Elongator-dependent modification pathway, chemical modifications are introduced at the wobble uridines at position 34 in transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which serve to optimize codon translation rates. Here, we show that this three-step modification pathway exists in Dictyostelium discoideum, model of the evolutionary superfamily Amoebozoa. Not only are previously established modifications observable by mass spectrometry in strains with the most conserved genes of each step deleted, but also additional modifications are detected, indicating a certain plasticity of the pathway in the amoeba. Unlike described for yeast, D. discoideum allows for an unconditional deletion of the single tQCUG gene, as long as the Elongator-dependent modification pathway is intact. In gene deletion strains of the

SUBMITTER: Schack MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7430636 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature