Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1988 Sep;170(9):4353–4360. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.9.4353-4360.1988

Ribosomes of the extremely thermophilic eubacterium Thermotoga maritima are uniquely insensitive to the miscoding-inducing action of aminoglycoside antibiotics.

P Londei 1, S Altamura 1, R Huber 1, K O Stetter 1, P Cammarano 1
PMCID: PMC211449  PMID: 3410830

Abstract

Poly(U)- and poly(UG)-programmed cell-free systems were developed from the extreme thermophilic, anaerobic eubacterium Thermotoga maritima, and their susceptibility to aminoglycoside and other antibiotics was assayed at a temperature (75 degrees C) close to the physiological optimum (80 degrees C) for cell growth and in vitro polypeptide synthesis, using a Bacillus stearothermophilus system as the reference. The synthetic capacity of the Thermotoga assay mixture was abolished by the eubacterium-targeted drugs chloramphenicol, thiostrepton, and kirromycin. However, streptomycin, the disubstituted 2-deoxystreptamines (kanamycin, gentamicin, neomycin, and paromomycin), and the monosubstituted 2-deoxystreptamine (hygromycin) all failed to promote translational misreading of poly(U) on Thermotoga ribosomes; they also failed to block polyphenylalanine synthesis at a low (less than 10(-4) M) concentration and did not inhibit Thermotoga cell growth at a high (10 micrograms/ml) concentration even though Thermotoga ribosomes possess the 16S rRNA sequences required for aminoglycoside action. In contrast to the other eubacteria, Thermotoga elongation factor G was also refractory to the steroid inhibitor of peptidyl-tRNA translocation fusidic acid.

Full text

PDF
4353

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cammarano P., Teichner A., Londei P., Acca M., Nicolaus B., Sanz J. L., Amils R. Insensitivity of archaebacterial ribosomes to protein synthesis inhibitors. Evolutionary implications. EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):811–816. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03702.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Davies J., Davis B. D. Misreading of ribonucleic acid code words induced by aminoglycoside antibiotics. The effect of drug concentration. J Biol Chem. 1968 Jun 25;243(12):3312–3316. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Li M., Tzagoloff A., Underbrink-Lyon K., Martin N. C. Identification of the paromomycin-resistance mutation in the 15 S rRNA gene of yeast mitochondria. J Biol Chem. 1982 May 25;257(10):5921–5928. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Londei P., Altamura S., Cammarano P., Petrucci L. Differential features of ribosomes and of poly(U)-programmed cell-free systems derived from sulphur-dependent archaebacterial species. Eur J Biochem. 1986 Jun 16;157(3):455–462. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1986.tb09689.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Londei P., Sanz J. L., Altamura S., Hummel H., Cammarano P., Amils R., Böck A., Wolf H. Unique antibiotic sensitivity of archaebacterial polypeptide elongation factors. J Bacteriol. 1986 Jul;167(1):265–271. doi: 10.1128/jb.167.1.265-271.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Moazed D., Noller H. F. Interaction of antibiotics with functional sites in 16S ribosomal RNA. Nature. 1987 Jun 4;327(6121):389–394. doi: 10.1038/327389a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Montandon P. E., Nicolas P., Schürmann P., Stutz E. Streptomycin-resistance of Euglena gracilis chloroplasts: identification of a point mutation in the 16S rRNA gene in an invariant position. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Jun 25;13(12):4299–4310. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.12.4299. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Montandon P. E., Wagner R., Stutz E. E. coli ribosomes with a C912 to U base change in the 16S rRNA are streptomycin resistant. EMBO J. 1986 Dec 20;5(13):3705–3708. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04703.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Palmer E., Wilhelm J. M. Mistranslation in a eucaryotic organism. Cell. 1978 Feb;13(2):329–334. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90201-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Singh A., Ursic D., Davies J. Phenotypic suppression and misreading Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature. 1979 Jan 11;277(5692):146–148. doi: 10.1038/277146a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Wilhelm J. M., Pettitt S. E., Jessop J. J. Aminoglycoside antibiotics and eukaryotic protein synthesis: structure--function relationships in the stimulation of misreading with a wheat embryo system. Biochemistry. 1978 Apr 4;17(7):1143–1149. doi: 10.1021/bi00600a001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Woese C. R. Bacterial evolution. Microbiol Rev. 1987 Jun;51(2):221–271. doi: 10.1128/mr.51.2.221-271.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wolf H., Chinali G., Parmeggiani A. Kirromycin, an inhibitor of protein biosynthesis that acts on elongation factor Tu. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Dec;71(12):4910–4914. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.12.4910. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES