Catalysis of tRNA aminoacylation: single turnover to steady-state kinetics of tRNA synthetases. 2012

Mantu Santra, and Biman Bagchi
Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) catalyze the bimolecular association reaction between amino acid and tRNA by specifically and unerringly choosing the cognate amino acid and tRNA. There are two classes of such synthetases that perform tRNA-aminoacylation reaction. Interestingly, these two classes of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases differ not only in their structures but they also exhibit remarkably distinct kinetics under pre-steady-state condition. The class I synthetases show initial burst of product formation followed by a slower steady-state rate. This has been argued to represent the influence of slow product release. In contrast, there is no burst in the case of class II enzymes. The tight binding of product with enzyme for class I enzymes is correlated with the enhancement of rate in presence of elongation factor EF-TU. In spite of extensive experimental studies, there is no detailed theoretical analysis that can provide a quantitative understanding of this important problem. In this article, we present a theoretical investigation of enzyme kinetics for both classes of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. We present an augmented kinetic scheme and then employ the methods of time-dependent probability statistics to obtain expressions for the first passage time distribution that gives both the time-dependent and the steady-state rates. The present study quantitatively explains all the above experimental observations. We propose an alternative path way in the case of class II enzymes showing the tRNA-dependent amino acid activation and the discrepancy between the single-turnover and steady-state rate.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007700 Kinetics The rate dynamics in chemical or physical systems.
D008956 Models, Chemical Theoretical representations that simulate the behavior or activity of chemical processes or phenomena; includes the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment. Chemical Models,Chemical Model,Model, Chemical
D000604 Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases A subclass of enzymes that aminoacylate AMINO ACID-SPECIFIC TRANSFER RNA with their corresponding AMINO ACIDS. Amino Acyl T RNA Synthetases,Amino Acyl-tRNA Ligases,Aminoacyl Transfer RNA Synthetase,Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase,Transfer RNA Synthetase,tRNA Synthetase,Acyl-tRNA Ligases, Amino,Acyl-tRNA Synthetases, Amino,Amino Acyl tRNA Ligases,Amino Acyl tRNA Synthetases,Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetase,Ligases, Amino Acyl-tRNA,RNA Synthetase, Transfer,Synthetase, Aminoacyl-tRNA,Synthetase, Transfer RNA,Synthetase, tRNA,Synthetases, Amino Acyl-tRNA
D012343 RNA, Transfer The small RNA molecules, 73-80 nucleotides long, that function during translation (TRANSLATION, GENETIC) to align AMINO ACIDS at the RIBOSOMES in a sequence determined by the mRNA (RNA, MESSENGER). There are about 30 different transfer RNAs. Each recognizes a specific CODON set on the mRNA through its own ANTICODON and as aminoacyl tRNAs (RNA, TRANSFER, AMINO ACYL), each carries a specific amino acid to the ribosome to add to the elongating peptide chains. Suppressor Transfer RNA,Transfer RNA,tRNA,RNA, Transfer, Suppressor,Transfer RNA, Suppressor,RNA, Suppressor Transfer
D049148 Aminoacylation A reaction that introduces an aminoacyl group to a molecule. TRANSFER RNA AMINOACYLATION is the first step in GENETIC TRANSLATION. Activation of Amino Acids,Amino Acylation,Acids Activation, Amino,Acids Activations, Amino,Acylation, Amino,Acylations, Amino,Amino Acids Activation,Amino Acids Activations,Amino Acylations,Aminoacylations
D055162 Biocatalysis The facilitation of biochemical reactions with the aid of naturally occurring catalysts such as ENZYMES.

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