Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) catalyzes the first step of protein synthesis, producing aminoacyl-tRNAs as building blocks. Eukaryotic aaRS differs from its prokaryotic counterpart in terminal extension or insertion. Moreover, the editing function of aaRSs is an indispensable checkpoint excluding non-cognate amino acids at a given codon and ensuring overall translational fidelity. We found higher eukaryotes encode two cytoplasmic threonyl-tRNA synthetases (ThrRSs) with difference in N-terminus. The longer isoform is more closely related to the ThrRSs of higher eukaryotes than to those of lower eukaryotes. A yeast strain was generated to include deletion of the thrS gene encoding ThrRS. Combining in vitro biochemical and in vivo genetic data, ThrRSs from eukaryotic cytoplasm were systematically analyzed, and role of the eukaryotic cytoplasmic ThrRS-specific N-terminal extension was elucidated. Furthermore, the mechanisms of aminoacylation and editing activity mediated by Saccharomyces cerevisiae ThrRS (ScThrRS) were clarified. Interestingly, yeast cells were tolerant of variation at the editing active sites of ScThrRS without significant Thr-to-Ser conversion in the proteome even under significant environmental stress, implying checkpoints downstream of aminoacylation to provide a further quality control mechanism for the yeast translation system. This study has provided the first comprehensive elucidation of the translational fidelity control mechanism of eukaryotic ThrRS.

Mitochondria require all translational components, including aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs), to complete organelle protein synthesis. Some aaRS mutations cause mitochondrial disorders, including human mitochondrial threonyl-tRNA synthetase (hmtThrRS) (encoded by TARS2), the P282L mutation of which causes mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. However, its catalytic and structural consequences remain unclear. Herein, we cloned TARS2 and purified the wild-type and P282L mutant hmtThrRS. hmtThrRS misactivates non-cognate Ser and uses post-transfer editing to clear erroneously synthesized products. In vitro and in vivo analyses revealed that the mutation induces a decrease in Thr activation, aminoacylation, and proofreading activities and a change in the protein structure and/or stability, which might cause reduced catalytic efficiency. We also identified a splicing variant of TARS2 mRNA lacking exons 8 and 9, the protein product of which is targeted into mitochondria. In HEK293T cells, the variant does not dimerize and cannot complement the ThrRS knock-out strain in yeast, suggesting that the truncated protein is inactive and might have a noncanonical function, as observed for other aaRS fragments. The present study describes the aminoacylation and editing properties of hmtThrRS, clarifies the molecular consequences of the P282L mutation, and shows that the yeast ThrRS-deletion model is suitable to test pathology-associated point mutations or alternative splicing variants of mammalian aaRS mRNAs.Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) 4 supply the ribosome with aminoacyl-tRNA substrates for protein synthesis (1, 2). This process starts with amino acid activation by condensation with ATP to form the aminoacyl adenylate aa-AMP and pyrophosphate. The activated amino acid then reacts with the 3Ј-end of the cognate tRNA to yield the aminoacyl-tRNA (aatRNA), which is transferred by EF-Tu to the protein biosynthesis machinery as a building block. Highly accurate protein synthesis is indispensable for cell growth. To maintain fidelity during protein synthesis, aaRS needs to select the correct amino acid and tRNA substrates from a large number of structurally similar molecules in the cells. The specificity of aaRS is greatly challenged by the presence of the 20 amino acids in which the physicochemical properties are sometimes very similar and by non-proteogenous amino acids and diverse metabolites produced by cell metabolism. aaRSs that do not show an overall selectivity above 1 in 3000 are predicted to require proofreading (editing) activity to maintain sufficient accuracy during aa-tRNA synthesis (3). In fact, editing activity has evolved in half of the currently identified aaRS to remove aberrantly produced aa-AMP (pretransfer editing) and/or aa-tRNA (posttransfer editing) (4). tRNA mischarging may be toxic and deleterious for cells. Even a slight decrease in aminoacylation accuracy could cause an intracellular accumulation of misfolded proteins and up-regulation of cytoplasmic protein chaperones in neurons, leading to severe...