Mutational analysis of polynucleotide phosphorylase from Escherichia coli

Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), a homotrimeric exoribonuclease present in bacteria, is involved in mRNA degradation. In Escherichia coli, expression of this enzyme is autocontrolled at the translational level. We introduced about 30 mutations in the pnp gene by site-directed mutagenesis, most of them in phylogenetically conserved residues, and determined their effects on the three catalytic activities of PNPase, phosphorolysis, polymerisation and phosphate exchange, as well as on the efficiency of translational repression. The data are presented and discussed in the light of the crystallographic structure of PNPase from Streptomyces antibioticus. The results show that both PNPase activity and the presence of the KH and S1 RNA-binding domains are required for autocontrol. Deletions of these RNA-binding domains do not abolish any of the three catalytic activities, indicating that they are contained in a domain independent of the catalytic centre. Moreover, the catalytic centre was located around the tungsten-binding site identified by crystallography. Some mutations affect the three catalytic activities differently, an observation consistent with the presence of different subsites.     

Selective mRNA degradation by polynucleotide phosphorylase in cold shock adaptation in Escherichia coli

Upon cold shock, Escherichia coli cell growth transiently stops. During this acclimation phase, specific cold shock proteins (CSPs) are highly induced. At the end of the acclimation phase, their synthesis is reduced to new basal levels, while the non-cold shock protein synthesis is resumed, resulting in cell growth reinitiation. Here, we report that polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) is required to repress CSP production at the end of the acclimation phase. A pnp mutant, upon cold shock, maintained a high level of CSPs even after 24 h. PNPase was found to be essential for selective degradation of CSP mRNAs at 15 degrees C. In a poly(A) polymerase mutant and a CsdA RNA helicase mutant, CSP expression upon cold shock was significantly prolonged, indicating that PNPase in concert with poly(A) polymerase and CsdA RNA helicase plays a critical role in cold shock adaptation.     

Cloning and orientation of the gene encoding polynucleotide phosphorylase in Escherichia coli.

Mutations which affect the activity of polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) map near 69 min on the bacterial chromosome. This region of the chromosome has been cloned by inserting the kanamycin-resistant transposon Tn5 near the argG and mtr loci at 68.5 min. Large SalI fragments of chromosomal DNA containing the Tn5 element were inserted into pBR322, and selection was made for kanamycin-resistant recombinant plasmids. Two of these plasmids were found to produce high levels of PNPase activity in both wild-type and host strains lacking PNPase activity. The pnp gene was further localized and subcloned on a 4.8 kilobase HindIII-EcoRI fragment. This fragment was shown to encode an 84,000-molecular weight protein which comigrated with purified PNPase during sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The orientation of the pnp gene was determined by insertion of Tn5 into the 4.8 kilobase fragment cloned in pBR322. Some of the insertions had lost the ability to elevate the level of PNPase activity in the host bacterium. Restriction mapping of the positions of the Tn5 insertions and analysis of plasmid-encoded polypeptides in UV-irradiated maxi-cells indicated that the pnp gene is oriented in the counterclockwise direction on the bacterial chromosome.     

Preparation of Escherichia coli tRNAs terminating of modified nucleosides by the use of CTP(ATP):tRNA nucleotidyltransferase and polynucleotide phosphorylase.

Two procedures were investigated for the modification of tRNAs at the 3'-terminal nucleoside. The first involved the incubation of an enzymatically abreviated tRNA (tRNA-C-COH) with appropriate nucleoside triphosphates in the presence of CTP(ATP):tRNA nucleotidyltransferase from Escherichia coli and yeast. The E. coli enzyme did not utilize 2'- or 3'-deoxyadenosine 5'-triphosphate as substrates, but affected incorporation of the 2'- and 3'-O-methyladenosine triphosphates onto tRNA-C-Cou to the extent of 30 and 37%, respectively. Although incorporation of the deoxynucleotides could not be effected using the E. coli enzyme, yeast CTP(ATP:tRNA nucleotidyltransferase produced the desired tRNAs in yields of 45-65%. The second modification procedure involved incubation of tRNA-C-COH with (appropriately blocked) nucleoside diphosphates in the presence of polynucleotide phosphorylase. This procedure afforded the tRNAs terminating in 2'- and 3'-deoxyadenosine in yields of 4% (and the yield of the former was increased to 36% when the incubation was carried out in the presence of 20% methanol). The yields of tRNAs terminating in 2'- and 3'-O-methyladenosing produced by this procedure were 55 and 17%, respectively. Because only single isomers of most of the tRNAs terminating in 2'- and 3'-deoxy- and O-methyladenosine are aminoacylated, attempts were made to obtain the other isomericaminoacyl-tRNA by enzymatic introduction of chemically preaminoacylated nucleotides onto tRNA-C-COH. Although incubation of tRNA-C-COH with three aminoacylated nucleoside 5'-triphosphates and E. coli CTP(ATP):tRNA nucleotidyltransferase did not result in production of the desired tRNAs to a detectable extent, incubation with 2'-deoxy-3'-O-L-phenylalanyladenosine 5'-diphosphate and polynucleotide phosphorylase afforded E. coli tRNA terminating with the corresponding aminoacylated deoxynucleoside.     

Isolation and characterization of a new temperature-sensitive polynucleotide phosphorylase mutation in Escherichia coli K-12

Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) has been studied in detail since its discovery in 1955 [1]. In an attempt to determine what role, if any, it has in mRNA decay in Escherichia coli, we have isolated and characterized a temperature-sensitive mutation, pnp-200, in the pnp gene. In vitro phosphorolysis, polymerization and exchange activities of the partially purified Pnp-200 enzyme are all reduced to 30-40% of wild-type activity at 50 degrees C compared to 32 degrees C. The pnp-200 mutation alone does not affect cell growth or mRNA stability. A triple mutant strain containing pnp-200 in combination with other temperature-sensitive mutations in genes known to affect mRNA metabolism (rnb-500 and ams-1) is conditionally lethal and shows increased mRNA stability after shift to the non-permissive temperature.