Crosslinking of chemically reactive A-U-G analogs to ribosomal proteins within initiation complexes.

A-U-G analogs, either reactive on their 5′ or their 3′ side, were employed in affinity labeling of the ribosomal A-U-G binding site. These experiments have been carried out such that the chemically reactive A-U-G analog became covalently bonded to ribosomal proteins only in the presence of fMet-tRNA_f^Met and initiation factors. Subsequent radioimmunodiffusion of A-U-G-labeled proteins identified proteins IF3, S1, S18, S21 and L11 as being in the neighborhood of the ribosomal codon binding site. A location of reactive sites of these proteins relative to the P or A site bound codon is, however, not clear.The A-U-G labeling results are quantitatively as well as qualitatively very different in the absence or presence of fMet-tRNA_f^Met. It is concluded, therefore, that fMet-tRNA_f^Met directs A-U-G into its final binding site. Streptomycin cannot release fMet-tRNA_f^Met from initiation complexes which contain irreversibly bound 5′- {4-(bromoacetamido)phenylphospho}-adenylyl-(3′–5′)-uridylyl-(3′–5′)-guanosine. This suggests that codon-anticodon interaction between A-U-G and fMet-tRNA_f^Met is still intact in the P site of the ribosome.