Dual Targeting is the Rule for Organellar Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases in Arabidopsis Thaliana

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2005 Oct 28

PMID 16251277

Citations 104

Authors

Anne-Marie Duchene

Anatoli Giritch

Beate Hoffmann

Valerie Cognat

Dominique Lancelin

Nemo M Peeters

Marlyse Zaepfel

Laurence Marechal-Drouard

Ian D Small

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In plants, protein synthesis occurs in the cytosol, mitochondria, and plastids. Each compartment requires a full set of tRNAs and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. We have undertaken a systematic analysis of the targeting of organellar aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Dual targeting appeared to be a general rule. Among the 24 identified organellar aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs), 15 (and probably 17) are shared between mitochondria and plastids, and 5 are shared between cytosol and mitochondria (one of these aaRSs being present also in chloroplasts). Only two were shown to be uniquely chloroplastic and none to be uniquely mitochondrial. Moreover, there are no examples where the three aaRS genes originating from the three ancestral genomes still coexist. These results indicate that extensive exchange of aaRSs has occurred during evolution and that many are now shared between two or even three compartments. The findings have important implications for studies of the translation machinery in plants and on protein targeting and gene transfer in general.

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