The last step of tRNA splicing in yeast is catalyzed by Tpt1 protein, which transfers the 2 -phosphate from ligated tRNA to NAD to produce ADP-ribose 1؆-2؆-cyclic phosphate (Appr>p). Structural and functional TPT1 homologs are found widely in eukaryotes and, surprisingly, also in Escherichia coli, which does not have this class of tRNA splicing. To understand the possible roles of the Tpt1 enzymes as well as the unusual use of NAD, the reaction mechanism of the E. coli homolog KptA was investigated. We show here that KptA protein removes the 2 -phosphate from RNA via an intermediate in which the phosphate is ADP-ribosylated followed by a presumed transesterification to release the RNA and generate Appr>p. The intermediate was characterized by analysis of its components and their linkages, using various labeled substrates and cofactors. Because the yeast and mouse Tpt1 proteins, like KptA protein, can catalyze the conversion of the KptA-generated intermediate to both product and the original substrate, these enzymes likely use the same reaction mechanism.Step 1 of this reaction is strikingly similar to the ADP-ribosylation of proteins catalyzed by a number of bacterial toxins.tRNA introns occur widely in Eukarya and Archaea (1, 2). Splicing in these organisms is initiated by a highly conserved endonuclease that excises the intron (3-5), followed by joining of the two half-molecules by one of two different ligases (6 -13). In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in which the process is best studied, ligation occurs by a four-step reaction, producing a splice junction with a 2Ј-phosphate (14, 15).A single essential gene (TPT1) encodes the 2Ј-phosphotransferase responsible for removal of the splice junction 2Ј-phosphate from ligated tRNA (16,17). This reaction is unusual because the 2Ј-phosphate is transferred to NAD (18), producing mature tRNA and ADP-ribose 1Љ-2Љ cyclic phosphate (ApprϾp) 1 (19). The TPT1 gene product is involved in this step in vivo because a conditional yeast tpt1 mutant, when depleted for the gene product, accumulates at least eight ligated tRNA species bearing a splice junction 2Ј-phosphate (17). This presumably is the essential function of Tpt1 protein. Examination of four of these tRNAs demonstrated that they are also undermodified specifically at the splice junction residue (17).The yeast Tpt1 protein is part of a family of functional 2Ј-phosphotransferases found in Eukarya (Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Candida albicans, Arabidopsis thaliana and Mus musculus), and Eubacteria (Escherichia coli), with other likely members in another bacterial species and several Archaea (46). Expression of the eukaryotic phosphotransferase genes and the E. coli gene (kptA) complements a yeast tpt1 mutant, and the corresponding proteins catalyze the same reaction as the yeast protein, producing ApprϾp from ligated tRNA and NAD. The widespread occurrence of 2Ј-phosphotransferases in Eukarya is consistent with the ubiquitous presence of intron-containing tRNAs and ligases that generate 2Ј-phosphorylated substrates ...