A subset of eukaryotic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (a-RS) are contained in a multienzyme complex for which little structural detail is known. Three reversible chemical crosslinking reagents have been used to investigate the arrangement of polypeptides within this particle as isolated from rabbit reticulocytes. Identification of the crosslinked protein pairs was accomplished by two-dimensional SDS diagonal gel electrophoresis. Seventeen neighboring protein pairs have been identified. Eight are seen with at least two reagents:
K-RS:p38, D-RS:K-RS, R-RS dimer, K-RS dimer, K-RS:Q-RS, E/P-RS:K-RS, E/P-RS:I-RS, and Q-RS with one of the nonsynthetase proteins. Nine more are observed with one reagent: D-RS dimer, R-RS:p43, D-RS:Q-RS, D-RS:M-RS, K-RS:L-RS, I-RS:R-RS, D-RS:E/P-RS, I-RS:Q-RS, I-RS:L-RS. One trimeric association is seen: E/P-RS:I-RS:L-RS.The observed neighboring protein pairs suggest that the polypeptides within the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex are distributed in three structural domains of similar mass. These can be arranged in a U-shaped particle in which each ''arm'' is considered a domain and the third forms the "base" of the structure. The arms have been termed domain I (D-RS, M-RS, Q-RS) and domain I1 (K-RS, R-RS), with domain III (E/P-RS, I-RS, L-RS) assigned to the base. The smaller proteins (p38, p43) may bridge the domains. This proposed spatial relationship of these domains, as well as their compositions, are consistent with earlier studies. Thus, this study provides an initial three-dimensional working model of the arrangement of polypeptides within the multienzyme aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex.Keywords: aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex; multienzyme complex; protein-protein interaction; protein structure; reversible chemical crosslinking Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are a family of enzymes characterized by their role in coupling each amino acid with the correct tRNA for subsequent use in protein biosynthesis. In addition to this fundamental role in translation, these enzymes are widely studied as models for the evolution of modular proteins and for insight into the mechanisms of RNA-protein recognition. These enzymes also have additional cellular functions, such as synthesis of signaling dinucleotides. There are several recent reviews of these topics (Mirande, 1991;Schulman, 1991;Cusack, 1995).One of the most intriguing and least understood properties of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases from higher eukaryotes is the existence of a high molecular mass multienzyme complex of a subset Reprint requests to: Mona T. Norcum, Biochemistry Department, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505; e-mail: mnorcum@fiona.umsmed.edu.Abbreviations: a-RS, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, a is the one-letter ambo acid abbreviation; cis-DDP, cis-dichlorodiammine platinum; EGS, erhylene glycobis(succinimydy1succinate); SMPT, 4-succinimydyl oxycarbonyl-2-pyridyldithiotoluene. of these proteins (reviewed in Kisselev & Wolfson, 1994;Yang, 1996). As isolated fr...