Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) serve as a dictionary for the ribosome translating the genetic message from mRNA into a polypeptide chain. In addition to this canonical role, tRNAs are involved in other processes such as programmed stop codon readthrough (SC-RT). There, tRNAs with near-cognate anticodons to stop codons must outcompete release factors and incorporate into the ribosomal decoding center to prevent termination and allow translation to continue. However, not all near-cognate tRNAs promote efficient SC-RT. Here, with the help of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Trypanosoma brucei, we demonstrate that those tRNAs that promote efficient SC-RT establish critical contacts between their anticodon stem (AS) and ribosomal proteins Rps30/eS30 and Rps25/eS25 forming the decoding site. Unexpectedly, the length and well-defined nature of the AS determine the strength of these contacts, which is reflected in organisms with reassigned stop codons. These findings open an unexplored direction in tRNA biology that should facilitate the design of artificial tRNAs with specifically altered decoding abilities.

• MeSH
• antikodon metabolismus   MeSH
• konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
• proteosyntéza * MeSH
• ribozomální proteiny metabolismus   MeSH
• ribozomy * metabolismus   MeSH
• RNA transferová * metabolismus   genetika   chemie   MeSH
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• terminační kodon * genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• Trypanosoma brucei brucei genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• antikodon MeSH
• ribozomální proteiny MeSH
• RNA transferová * MeSH
• terminační kodon * MeSH