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Recently, a mammalian tRNA which was previously designated as an opal suppressor seryl-tRNA and phosphoseryl-tRNA was shown to be a selenocysteyl-tRNA (B. J. Lee, P. J. Worland, J. N. Davis, T. C. Stadtman, and D. Hatfield, J. Biol. Chem. 264:9724-9727, 1989). Hence, this tRNA is now designated as selenocysteyl-tRNA[Ser]Sec, and its function is twofold, to serve as (i) a carrier molecule upon which selenocysteine is biosynthesized and (ii) as a donor of selenocysteine, which is the 21st naturally occurring amino acid of protein, to the nascent polypeptide chain in response to specific UGA codons. In the present study, the selenocysteine tRNA gene was sequenced from Xenopus laevis, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans. The tRNA product of this gene was also identified within the seryl-tRNA population of a number of higher and lower animals, and the human tRNA[Ser]Sec gene was used as a probe to identify homologous sequences within genomic DNAs of organisms throughout the animal kingdom. The studies showed that the tRNA[Ser]Sec gene has undergone evolutionary change and that it is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Further, we conclude that selenocysteine-containing proteins, as well as the use of UGA as a codon for selenocysteine, are far more widespread in nature than previously thought.
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
August 2003,
RNA (New York, N.Y.),
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
October 1999,
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B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
February 1994,
Genomics,
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
August 1995,
Molecular & general genetics : MGG,
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
March 2003,
Molecular and cellular biology,
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
July 1999,
FEBS letters,
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
October 1996,
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B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
September 1996,
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B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
September 2000,
The Journal of biological chemistry,
B J Lee, and
M Rajagopalan, and
Y S Kim, and
K H You, and
K B Jacobson, and
D Hatfield
November 1998,
RNA (New York, N.Y.),
