SummaryAlthough SsrA(tmRNA)-mediated trans-translation is thought to maintain the translation capacity of bacterial cells by rescuing ribosomes stalled on messenger RNA lacking an in-frame stop codon, single disruption of ssrA does not crucially hamper growth of Escherichia coli. Here, we identified YhdL (renamed ArfA for alternative ribosome-rescue factor) as a factor essential for the viability of E. coli in the absence of SsrA. The ssrA-arfA synthetic lethality was alleviated by SsrA DD , an SsrA variant that adds a proteolysis-refractory tag through trans-translation, indicating that ArfA-deficient cells require continued translation, rather than subsequent proteolysis of the truncated polypeptide. In accordance with this notion, depletion of SsrA in the DarfA background led to reduced translation of a model protein without affecting transcription, and puromycin, a codonindependent mimic of aminoacyl-tRNA, rescued the bacterial growth under such conditions. That ArfA takes over the role of SsrA was suggested by the observation that its overexpression enabled detection of the polypeptide encoded by a model non-stop mRNA, which was otherwise SsrA-tagged and degraded. In vitro, purified ArfA acted on a ribosomenascent chain complex to resolve the peptidyl-tRNA. These results indicate that ArfA rescues the ribosome stalled at the 3Ј end of a non-stop mRNA without involving trans-translation.

The carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) is essential to support photosynthesis under CO2-limiting conditions in aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The CCM is assumed to be comprised of inorganic carbon transport systems that, in conjunction with carbonic anhydrases, maintain high levels of CO2 around ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in a specific compartment called the pyrenoid. A set of transcripts up-regulated during the induction of the CCM was identified previously and designated as low-CO2 (LC)-inducible genes. Although the functional importance of one of these LC-inducible genes, LciB, has been shown recently, the biochemical properties and detailed subcellular localization of its product LCIB remain to be elucidated. Here, using yeast two-hybrid, immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses we provide evidence to demonstrate that LCIB interacts with the LCIB homologous protein LCIC in yeast and in vivo. We also show that LCIB and LCIC are co-localized in the vicinity of the pyrenoid under LC conditions in the light, forming a hexamer complex of approximately 350 kDa, as estimated by gel filtration chromatography. LCIB localization around the pyrenoid was dependent on light illumination and LC conditions during active operation of the CCM. In contrast, in the dark or under high-CO2 conditions when the CCM was inactive, LCIB immediately diffused away from the pyrenoid. Based on these observations, we discuss possible functions of the LCIB-LCIC complex in the CCM.

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