Skip to main content
PMC home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1982 Jul 24;10(14):4135–4145. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.14.4135

Processing of eukaryotic tRNA precursors: secondary structure of the precursor specific sequences affects the rate but not the accuracy of processing reactions.

L Castagnoli, G Ciliberto, R Cortese
PMCID: PMC320788  PMID: 6289263

Abstract

The primary transcriptional product of eukaryotic tRNA genes is a precursor molecule with extranucleotides at the 5' and at the 3' end. We show that the 5' and 3' sequences, uniquely present in the RNA precursor molecule do not play any role in the efficiency and accuracy of processing reactions. If, however, as a consequence of in vitro manipulation, these extranucleotides form a base-paired extension of the aminoacid acceptor stem, the rate of processing is slowed down. The rate of processing is brought back to normal in a single base-pair deletion mutant probably as a consequence of a destabilization of the base-paired extension of the aminoacid acceptor stem.

Full text

PDF
4141

Images in this article

4137Image
on p.4137
4138Image
on p.4138
4139Image
on p.4139
4140Image
on p.4140
4142Image
on p.4142

Selected References

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

  1. Abelson J. RNA processing and the intervening sequence problem. Annu Rev Biochem. 1979;48:1035–1069. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.48.070179.005131. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Altman S. Transfer RNA processing enzymes. Cell. 1981 Jan;23(1):3–4. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90262-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brownlee G. G., Sanger F. Chromatography of 32P-labelled oligonucleotides on thin layers of DEAE-cellulose. Eur J Biochem. 1969 Dec;11(2):395–399. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1969.tb00786.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ciliberto G., Castagnoli L., Melton D. A., Cortese R. Promoter of a eukaryotic tRNAPro gene is composed of three noncontiguous regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Feb;79(4):1195–1199. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.4.1195. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cortese R., Harland R., Melton D. Transcription of tRNA genes in vivo: single-stranded compared to double-stranded templates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jul;77(7):4147–4151. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.7.4147. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. De Robertis E. M., Olson M. V. Transcription and processing of cloned yeast tyrosine tRNA genes microinjected into frog oocytes. Nature. 1979 Mar 8;278(5700):137–143. doi: 10.1038/278137a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Garber R. L., Gage L. P. Transcription of a cloned Bombyx mori tRNA2Ala gene: nucleotide sequence of the tRNA precursor and its processing in vitro. Cell. 1979 Nov;18(3):817–828. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90134-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):560–564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Melton D. A., Cortese R. Transcription of cloned tRNA genes and the nuclear partitioning of a tRNA precursor. Cell. 1979 Dec;18(4):1165–1172. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90229-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Melton D. A., De Robertis E. M., Cortese R. Order and intracellular location of the events involved in the maturation of a spliced tRNA. Nature. 1980 Mar 13;284(5752):143–148. doi: 10.1038/284143a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Messing J., Crea R., Seeburg P. H. A system for shotgun DNA sequencing. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Jan 24;9(2):309–321. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.2.309. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nishikura K., Kurjan J., Hall B. D., De Robertis E. M. Genetic analysis of the processing of a spliced tRNA. EMBO J. 1982;1(2):263–268. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01157.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Traboni C., Ciliberto G., Cortese R. A novel method for site-directed mutagenesis: its application to an eukaryotic tRNAPro gene promoter. EMBO J. 1982;1(4):415–420. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01184.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES