Bk. Oh et al., PARTICIPATION OF THE 3'-CCA OF TRANSFER-RNA IN THE BINDING OF CATALYTIC MG2-P( IONS BY RIBONUCLEASE), Biochemistry, 37(20), 1998, pp. 7277-7283
Ribonuclease P (RNase P) contains a catalytic RNA that cleaves precurs
or tRNA (pre-tRNA) to form the mature 5'-end of tRNA, Previous kinetic
analyses with mutant pre-tRNAs indicated that both C residues of the
invariant 3'-terminal CCA form specific interactions with RNase P RNA
that contribute to the energetics of substrate binding (1, 2). In the
present study, we have used single-turnover kinetic analysis to invest
igate whether specific changes in the 3'-terminal CCA influence the ra
te of the chemical step through which enzyme-bound substrate is conver
ted to product(k(2)). At optimal ionic strength (1.0 M NH4Cl, 25 mM Mg
Cl2), deletion or substitution of the 3'-proximal C residue (CCA) redu
ced the rate of the chemical step of cleavage (k(2)) by 60-fold. Simil
ar changes to the 5'-proximal C residue (CCA) or the 3'-terminal A res
idue (CCA) reduced k(2) only a few fold. Each mutant substrate exhibit
ed weakened affinity for Mg2+, as measured by Hill plots, and the seve
rity of these defects correlated with the observed reductions in k(2).
Furthermore, elevated concentrations of Mg2+ partially, but not compl
etely, suppress the k(2) defects caused by deletion or substitution of
the 3'-proximal C residue. We conclude that the 3'-CCA of pre-tRNA, p
articularly the 3'-proximal C residue, comprises part of the catalytic
pocket formed in the pre-tRNA-RNase P complex and participates in the
binding of Mg2+ ions that are essential for catalysis by RNase P RNA.