4cs4

Publication Abstract from PubMed

The site-selective introduction of photo-crosslinking groups into proteins enables the discovery and mapping of weak and/or transient protein interactions with high spatiotemporal resolution, both in vitro and in vivo. We report the genetic encoding of a furan-based, photo-crosslinking amino acid in human cells; it can be activated with red light, thus offering high penetration depths in biological samples. This is achieved by activation of the amino acid and charging to its cognate tRNA by a pyrrolysyl-tRNA-synthetase (PylRS) mutant with broad polyspecificity. To gain insights into the recognition of this amino acid and to provide a rationale for its polyspecificity, we solved three crystal structures of the PylRS mutant: in its apo-form, in complex with adenosine 5'-(beta,gamma-imido)triphosphate (AMP-PNP) and in complex with the AMP ester of the furan amino acid. These structures provide clues for the observed polyspecificity and represent a promising starting point for the engineering of PylRS mutants with further increased substrate scope.

Structural Basis of Furan-Amino Acid Recognition by a Polyspecific Aminoacyl-tRNA-Synthetase and its Genetic Encoding in Human Cells.,Schmidt MJ, Weber A, Pott M, Welte W, Summerer D Chembiochem. 2014 Apr 15. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201402006. PMID:24737732^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.