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In the elongation cycle of bacterial protein synthesis the interaction between elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu).guanosine triphosphate (GTP), aminoacyl-transfer RNA (aa-tRNA), and messenger RNA-programmed ribosomes is associated with the hydrolysis of GTP. This interaction determines the selection of the proper aa-tRNA for incorporation into the polypeptide. In the canonical scheme, one molecule of GTP is hydrolyzed in the EF-Tu-dependent binding of aa-tRNA to the ribosome, and a second molecule is hydrolyzed in the elongation factor-G (EF-G)-mediated translocation of the polypeptide from the ribosomal A site to the P site. Substitution of Asp138 with Asn in EF-Tu changed the substrate specificity from GTP to xanthosine triphosphate and demonstrated that the EF-Tu-mediated reactions involved the hydrolysis of two nucleotide triphosphates for each Phe incorporated. This stoichiometry of two is associated with the binding of the correct aa-tRNA to the ribosome.

Elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu), the most abundant protein in Escherichia coli, is a guanine nucleotide-binding protein that in the 'on' state acts as a carrier of amino acyl-tRNA to the ribosome. Our knowledge of this essential component of translation has brought substantial progress in the past decade thanks to the co-ordinated application of biochemical, physico-chemical and genetic methods. Crystallographic analysis at 2.6 A resolution and site-directed mutagenesis have revealed structural and functional similarities between the guanine nucleotide-binding domains of EF-Tu and human H-ras p21 protein. The regulation of the expression of the two EF-Tu-encoding genes in E. coli, particularly that of tufB, has been shown to involve diverse mechanisms. Several aspects of the functions of EF-Tu in the elongation cycle have been reinvestigated, leading to new insights. These studies have emphasized the manifold aspects of the mechanisms regulating the activity of EF-Tu in the bacterial cell.