Nature Chemical Biology
Nature Chemical Biology
5 years ago

AtaT blocks translation initiation by N-acetylation of the initiator tRNAfMet

AtaT blocks translation initiation by N-acetylation of the initiator tRNAfMet
Frank Sobott, Louis Droogmans, Sneha Chatterjee, Albert Konijnenberg, Abel Garcia-Pino, Dukas Jurėnas, Laurence Van Melderen
Toxin–antitoxin (TA) loci are prevalent in bacterial genomes. They are suggested to play a central role in dormancy and persister states. Under normal growth conditions, TA toxins are neutralized by their cognate antitoxins, and under stress conditions, toxins are freed and inhibit essential cellular processes using a variety of mechanisms. Here we characterize ataR–ataT, a novel TA system, from enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. We show that the toxin AtaT is a GNAT family enzyme that transfers an acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme A to the amine group of the methionyl aminoacyl moiety of initiator tRNA. AtaT specifically modifies Met-tRNAfMet, but no other aminoacyl-tRNAs, including the elongator Met-tRNAMet. We demonstrate that once acetylated, AcMet-tRNAfMet fails to interact with initiation factor-2 (IF2), resulting in disruption of the translation initiation complex. This work reveals a new mechanism of translation inhibition and confirms Met-tRNAfMet as a prime target to efficiently block cell growth.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2346

DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2346

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.