scholarly journals The Signal Recognition Particle (SRP) RNA Links Conformational Changes in the SRP to Protein Targeting

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 2728-2734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Bradshaw ◽  
Peter Walter

The RNA component of the signal recognition particle (SRP) is universally required for cotranslational protein targeting. Biochemical studies have shown that SRP RNA participates in the central step of protein targeting by catalyzing the interaction of the SRP with the SRP receptor (SR). SRP RNA also accelerates GTP hydrolysis in the SRP·SR complex once formed. Using a reverse-genetic and biochemical analysis, we identified mutations in the E. coli SRP protein, Ffh, that abrogate the activity of the SRP RNA and cause corresponding targeting defects in vivo. The mutations in Ffh that disrupt SRP RNA activity map to regions that undergo dramatic conformational changes during the targeting reaction, suggesting that the activity of the SRP RNA is linked to the major conformational changes in the signal sequence-binding subunit of the SRP. In this way, the SRP RNA may coordinate the interaction of the SRP and the SR with ribosome recruitment and transfer to the translocon, explaining why the SRP RNA is an indispensable component of the protein targeting machinery.

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (13) ◽  
pp. 3943-3948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ottilie von Loeffelholz ◽  
Qiyang Jiang ◽  
Aileen Ariosa ◽  
Manikandan Karuppasamy ◽  
Karine Huard ◽  
...  

The signal recognition particle (SRP)-dependent pathway is essential for correct targeting of proteins to the membrane and subsequent insertion in the membrane or secretion. In Escherichia coli, the SRP and its receptor FtsY bind to ribosome–nascent chain complexes with signal sequences and undergo a series of distinct conformational changes, which ensures accurate timing and fidelity of protein targeting. Initial recruitment of the SRP receptor FtsY to the SRP–RNC complex results in GTP-independent binding of the SRP–FtsY GTPases at the SRP RNA tetraloop. In the presence of GTP, a closed state is adopted by the SRP–FtsY complex. The cryo-EM structure of the closed state reveals an ordered SRP RNA and SRP M domain with a signal sequence-bound. Van der Waals interactions between the finger loop and ribosomal protein L24 lead to a constricted signal sequence-binding pocket possibly preventing premature release of the signal sequence. Conserved M-domain residues contact ribosomal RNA helices 24 and 59. The SRP–FtsY GTPases are detached from the RNA tetraloop and flexible, thus liberating the ribosomal exit site for binding of the translocation machinery.


2007 ◽  
Vol 178 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-ou Shan ◽  
Sowmya Chandrasekar ◽  
Peter Walter

During cotranslational protein targeting, two guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) in the signal recognition particle (SRP) and its receptor (SR) form a unique complex in which hydrolyses of both guanosine triphosphates (GTP) are activated in a shared active site. It was thought that GTP hydrolysis drives the recycling of SRP and SR, but is not crucial for protein targeting. Here, we examined the translocation efficiency of mutant GTPases that block the interaction between SRP and SR at specific stages. Surprisingly, mutants that allow SRP–SR complex assembly but block GTPase activation severely compromise protein translocation. These mutations map to the highly conserved insertion box domain loops that rearrange upon complex formation to form multiple catalytic interactions with the two GTPs. Thus, although GTP hydrolysis is not required, the molecular rearrangements that lead to GTPase activation are essential for protein targeting. Most importantly, our results show that an elaborate rearrangement within the SRP–SR GTPase complex is required to drive the unloading and initiate translocation of cargo proteins.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (19) ◽  
pp. 5697-5705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Wilson Bowers ◽  
Fion Lau ◽  
Thomas J. Silhavy

ABSTRACT LamB-LacZ fusion proteins have classically been used in studies of the general secretion pathway of Escherichia coli. Here we describe how increasing signal sequence hydrophobicity routes LamB-LacZ Hyb42-1 to the signal recognition particle (SRP) pathway. Secretion of this hydrophobic fusion variant (H*LamB-LacZ) was reduced in the absence of fully functional Ffh and Ffs, and the translocator jamming caused by Hyb42-1 was prevented by efficient delivery of the fusion to the periplasm. Finally, we found that in the absence of the ribosome-associated chaperone, trigger factor (Tig), LamB-LacZ localized to the periplasm in a SecA-dependent, SRP-independent fashion. Collectively, our results provide compelling in vivo evidence that there is an SRP-dependent cotranslational targeting mechanism in E. coli and argue against a role for trigger factor in pathway discrimination.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 2636-2645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peera Jaru-Ampornpan ◽  
Sowmya Chandrasekar ◽  
Shu-ou Shan

Cotranslational protein targeting to membranes is regulated by two GTPases in the signal recognition particle (SRP) and the SRP receptor; association between the two GTPases is slow and is accelerated 400-fold by the SRP RNA. Intriguingly, the otherwise universally conserved SRP RNA is missing in a novel chloroplast SRP pathway. We found that even in the absence of an SRP RNA, the chloroplast SRP and receptor GTPases can interact efficiently with one another; the kinetics of interaction between the chloroplast GTPases is 400-fold faster than their bacterial homologues, and matches the rate at which the bacterial SRP and receptor interact with the help of SRP RNA. Biochemical analyses further suggest that the chloroplast SRP receptor is pre-organized in a conformation that allows optimal interaction with its binding partner, so that conformational changes during complex formation are minimized. Our results highlight intriguing differences between the classical and chloroplast SRP and SRP receptor GTPases, and help explain how the chloroplast SRP pathway can mediate efficient targeting of proteins to the thylakoid membrane in the absence of the SRP RNA, which plays an indispensable role in all the other SRP pathways.


2013 ◽  
Vol 200 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Akopian ◽  
Kush Dalal ◽  
Kuang Shen ◽  
Franck Duong ◽  
Shu-ou Shan

Signal recognition particle (SRP) and its receptor (SR) comprise a highly conserved cellular machine that cotranslationally targets proteins to a protein-conducting channel, the bacterial SecYEG or eukaryotic Sec61p complex, at the target membrane. Whether SecYEG is a passive recipient of the translating ribosome or actively regulates this targeting machinery remains unclear. Here we show that SecYEG drives conformational changes in the cargo-loaded SRP–SR targeting complex that activate it for GTP hydrolysis and for handover of the translating ribosome. These results provide the first evidence that SecYEG actively drives the efficient delivery and unloading of translating ribosomes at the target membrane.


2009 ◽  
Vol 390 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemyslaw Grudnik ◽  
Gert Bange ◽  
Irmgard Sinning

Abstract Protein targeting by the signal recognition particle (SRP) is universally conserved and starts with the recognition of a signal sequence in the context of a translating ribosome. SRP54 and FtsY, two multidomain proteins with guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activity, are the central elements of the SRP system. They have to coordinate the presence of a signal sequence with the presence of a vacant translocation channel in the membrane. For coordination the two GTPases form a unique, nearly symmetric heterodimeric complex in which the activation of GTP hydrolysis plays a key role for membrane insertion of substrate proteins. Recent results are integrated in an updated perception of the order of events in SRP-mediated protein targeting.


1999 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Bacher ◽  
Martin Pool ◽  
Bernhard Dobberstein

Protein targeting to the membrane of the ER is regulated by three GTPases, the 54-kD subunit of the signal recognition particle (SRP) and the α- and β-subunit of the SRP receptor (SR). Here, we report on the GTPase cycle of the β-subunits of the SR (SRβ). We found that SRβ binds GTP with high affinity and interacts with ribosomes in the GTP-bound state. Subsequently, the ribosome increases the GTPase activity of SRβ and thus functions as a GTPase activating protein for SRβ. Furthermore, the interaction between SRβ and the ribosome leads to a reduction in the affinity of SRβ for guanine nucleotides. We propose that SRβ regulates the interaction of SR with the ribosome and thereby allows SRα to scan membrane-bound ribosomes for the presence of SRP. Interaction between SRP and SRα then leads to release of the signal sequence from SRP and insertion into the translocon. GTP hydrolysis then results in dissociation of SR from the ribosome, and SRP from the SR.


Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 344 (6179) ◽  
pp. 101-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Timo Grotwinkel ◽  
Klemens Wild ◽  
Bernd Segnitz ◽  
Irmgard Sinning

The signal recognition particle (SRP) is central to membrane protein targeting; SRP RNA is essential for SRP assembly, elongation arrest, and activation of SRP guanosine triphosphatases. In eukaryotes, SRP function relies on the SRP68-SRP72 heterodimer. We present the crystal structures of the RNA-binding domain of SRP68 (SRP68-RBD) alone and in complex with SRP RNA and SRP19. SRP68-RBD is a tetratricopeptide-like module that binds to a RNA three-way junction, bends the RNA, and inserts an α-helical arginine-rich motif (ARM) into the major groove. The ARM opens the conserved 5f RNA loop, which in ribosome-bound SRP establishes a contact to ribosomal RNA. Our data provide the structural basis for eukaryote-specific, SRP68-driven RNA remodeling required for protein translocation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1161-C1161
Author(s):  
Irmgard Sinning

More than 25% of the cellular proteome comprise membrane proteins that have to be inserted into the correct target membrane. Most membrane proteins are delivered to the membrane by the signal recognition particle (SRP) pathway which relies on the recognition of an N-terminal signal sequence. In contrast to this co-translational mechanism, which avoids problems due to the hydrophobic nature of the cargo proteins, tail-anchored (TA) membrane proteins utilize a post-translational mechanism for membrane insertion – the GET pathway (guided entry of tail-anchored membrane proteins). The SRP and GET pathways are both regulated by GTP and ATP binding proteins of the SIMIBI family. However, in the SRP pathway the SRP RNA plays a unique regulatory role. Recent insights into eukaryotic SRP will be discussed.


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