Fluorescence characterization of the interaction of various transfer RNA species with elongation factor Tu.GTP: evidence for a new functional role for elongation factor Tu in protein biosynthesis.

The ubiquity of elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu)-dependent conformational changes in amino-acyl-tRNA (aa-tRNA) and the origin of the binding energy associated with aa-tRNA.EF-Tu.GTP ternary complex formation have been examined spectroscopically. Fluorescein was attached covalently to the 4-thiouridine base at position 8 (s4U-8) in each of four elongator tRNAs (Ala, Met-m, Phe, and Val). Although the probes were chemically identical, their emission intensities in the free aa-tRNAs differed by nearly 3-fold, indicating that the dyes were in different environments and hence that the aa-tRNAs had different tertiary structures near s4U-8. Upon association with EF-Tu.GTP, the emission intensities increased by 244%, 57%, or 15% for three aa-tRNAs due to a change in tRNA conformation; the fourth aa-tRNA exhibited no fluorescence change upon binding to EF-Tu.GTP. Despite the great differences in the emission intensities of the free aa-tRNAs and in the magnitudes of their EF-Tu-dependent intensity increases, the emission intensity per aa-tRNA molecule was nearly the same (within 9% of the average) for the four aa-tRNAs when bound to EF-Tu-GTP. Thus, the binding of EF-Tu.GTP induced or selected a tRNA conformation near s4U-8 that was very similar, and possibly the same, for each aa-tRNA species. It therefore appears that EF-Tu functions, at least in part, by minimizing the conformational diversity in aa-tRNAs prior to their beginning the recognition and binding process at the single decoding site on the ribosome. Since an EF-Tu-dependent fluorescence change was also observed with fluorescein-labeled tRNA(Phe), the protein-dependent structural change is effected by direct interactions between EF-Tu and the tRNA and does not require the aminoacyl group. The Kd of the tRNA(Phe).EF-Tu.GTP ternary complex was determined, at equilibrium, to be 2.6 microM by the ability of the unacylated tRNA to compete with fluorescent Phe-tRNA for binding to the protein. Comparison of this Kd with that of the Phe-tRNA ternary complex showed that in this case the aminoacyl moiety contributed 4.3 kcal/mol toward ternary complex formation at 6 degrees C but that the bulk of the binding energy in the ternary complex was derived from direct protein-tRNA interactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Effects of nucleotide- and aurodox-induced changes in elongation factor Tu conformation upon its interactions with aminoacyl transfer RNA. A fluorescence study.

The effects of GDP and of aurodox (N-methylkirromycin) on the affinity of elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) for aminoacyl-tRNA (aa-tRNA) have been quantified spectroscopically by using Phe-tRNA(Phe)-Fl8, a functionally active analogue of Phe-tRNA(Phe) with a fluorescein dye convalently attached to the s4U-8 base. The association of EF-Tu.GDP with Phe-tRNA(Phe)-Fl8 resulted in an average increase of 33% in fluorescein emission intensity. This spectral change was used to monitor the extent of ternary complex formation as a function of EF-Tu.GDP concentration, and hence to obtain a dissociation constant, directly and at equilibrium, for the EF-Tu.GDP-containing ternary complex. The Kd for the Phe-tRNA(Phe)-Fl8.EF-Tu.GDP complex was found to average 28.5 microM, more than 33,000-fold greater than the Kd of the Phe-tRNA(Phe)-Fl8.EF-Tu.GTP complex under the same conditions. In terms of free energy, the delta G degree for ternary complex formation at 6 degrees C was -11.5 kcal/mol with GTP and -5.8 kcal/mol with GDP. Thus, the hydrolysis of the ternary complex GTP results in a dramatic decrease in the affinity of EF-Tu for aa-tRNA, thereby facilitating the release of EF-Tu.GDP from the aa-tRNA on the ribosome. Aurodox (200 microM) decreased the Kd of the GDP complex by nearly 20-fold, to 1.46 microM, and increased the Kd of the GTP complex by at least 6-fold. The binding of aurodox to EF-Tu therefore both considerably strengthens EF-Tu.GDP affinity for aa-tRNA and also weakens EF-Tu.GTP affinity for aa-tRNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Endocytosis of lysosomal alpha-galactosidase A by cultured fibroblasts from patients with Fabry disease.

The endocytosis of alpha-galactosidase A was studied in cultured fibroblasts from patients with Fabry disease. Alpha-galactosidase A was purified from human placenta by chromatography on concanavalin A-Sepharose, DEAE-cellulose, and N-epsilon-aminocaproyl-alpha-D-galactosylamine-Sepharose. Separation of the high-uptake form of the enzyme from the low-uptake form was accomplished by chromatography on ECTEOLA-cellulose. With the high-uptake form of the enzyme, the uptake was linear at low concentrations of enzyme and had a Kuptake of 0.01 U/ml of medium that corresponds to a Km of 5.0 x 10(-9) M. At high concentrations of enzyme, it became saturated. The high-uptake form could be converted to the low-uptake form by treatment with acid phosphatase. Mannose-6-P strongly inhibited the active uptake of the enzyme. Once taken up into the lysosomes of Fabry disease fibroblasts, alpha-galactosidase A activity was rapidly lost in the first 2 days of incubation at 37 degrees C, but was fairly stable for the next 6 days. The half-life of internalized alpha-galactosidase A activity was calculated to be 4 days. Crosslinking of the enzyme with hexamethylene diisocyanate did not increase the intracellular stability of alpha-galactosidase A activity.