A growing number of human diseases are correlated with point mutations in transfer RNA (tRNA) genes within the mitochondrial genome. The cause-and-effect basis for diseases associated with mutations in human mitochondrial (hs mt) tRNAs is an area of active investigation in medical and cell biology research, but the limited availability of information concerning the properties of these tRNAs has hampered the delineation of the molecular basis of these mitochondrial pathologies. ? ? Our goal is to characterize the unique tRNAs functioning in human mitochondria, and to elucidate how the functional and structural properties of hs mt tRNA mutants associated with disease are perturbed. The effects of pathogenic mutations in hs mt tRNAs will be investigated by: 1) monitoring structural properties using solution footprinting, in vitro selection, computational, and spectroscopic methods, 2) investigating functional properties, including the efficiency and fidelity of aminoacylation and ribosomal protein synthesis, using a variety of in vitro assays, and 3) probing the function of these molecules in vivo using human cell lines and a bacterial model system. This multipronged approach will allow the formulation of structure/function relationships for this uncharacterized class of molecules and will provide molecular-level information concerning the effects of disease-related tRNA mutations.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM063890-02
Application #
6667237
Study Section
Physiological Chemistry Study Section (PC)
Program Officer
Rhoades, Marcus M
Project Start
2002-09-30
Project End
2007-08-31
Budget Start
2003-09-01
Budget End
2004-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$246,332
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston College
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
045896339
City
Chestnut Hill
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02467
Lue, Stanley W; Kelley, Shana O (2007) A single residue in leucyl-tRNA synthetase affecting amino acid specificity and tRNA aminoacylation. Biochemistry 46:4466-72
Lue, Stanley W; Kelley, Shana O (2005) An aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase with a defunct editing site. Biochemistry 44:3010-6
Zagryadskaya, Ekaterina I; Kelley, Shana O (2005) Combinatorial analysis of loop nucleotides in human mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR). Biochemistry 44:233-42
Roy, Marc D; Wittenhagen, Lisa M; Vozzella, Brian E et al. (2004) Interdomain communication between weak structural elements within a disease-related human tRNA. Biochemistry 43:384-92
Wittenhagen, Lisa M; Roy, Marc D; Kelley, Shana O (2003) The pathogenic U3271C human mitochondrial tRNA(Leu(UUR)) mutation disrupts a fragile anticodon stem. Nucleic Acids Res 31:596-601
Wittenhagen, Lisa M; Kelley, Shana O (2003) Impact of disease-related mitochondrial mutations on tRNA structure and function. Trends Biochem Sci 28:605-11