The contributions of wobbling and superwobbling to the reading of the genetic code.

Reduced bacterial genomes and most genomes of cell organelles (chloroplasts and mitochondria) do not encode the full set of 32 tRNA species required to read all triplets of the genetic code according to the conventional wobble rules. Superwobbling, in which a single tRNA species that contains a uridine in the wobble position of the anticodon reads an entire four-fold degenerate codon box, has been suggested as a possible mechanism for how tRNA sets can be reduced. However, the general feasibility of superwobbling and its efficiency in the various codon boxes have remained unknown. Here we report a complete experimental assessment of the decoding rules in a typical prokaryotic genetic system, the plastid genome. By constructing a large set of transplastomic knock-out mutants for pairs of isoaccepting tRNA species, we show that superwobbling occurs in all codon boxes where it is theoretically possible. Phenotypic characterization of the transplastomic mutant plants revealed that the efficiency of superwobbling varies in a codon box-dependent manner, but--contrary to previous suggestions--it is independent of the number of hydrogen bonds engaged in codon-anticodon interaction. Finally, our data provide experimental evidence of the minimum tRNA set comprising 25 tRNA species, a number lower than previously suggested. Our results demonstrate that all triplets with pyrimidines in third codon position are dually decoded: by a tRNA species utilizing standard base pairing or wobbling and by a second tRNA species employing superwobbling. This has important implications for the interpretation of the genetic code and will aid the construction of synthetic genomes with a minimum-size translational apparatus.

Nonessential plastid-encoded ribosomal proteins in tobacco: a developmental role for plastid translation and implications for reductive genome evolution.

Plastid genomes of higher plants contain a conserved set of ribosomal protein genes. Although plastid translational activity is essential for cell survival in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), individual plastid ribosomal proteins can be nonessential. Candidates for nonessential plastid ribosomal proteins are ribosomal proteins identified as nonessential in bacteria and those whose genes were lost from the highly reduced plastid genomes of nonphotosynthetic plastid-bearing lineages (parasitic plants, apicomplexan protozoa). Here we report the reverse genetic analysis of seven plastid-encoded ribosomal proteins that meet these criteria. We have introduced knockout alleles for the corresponding genes into the tobacco plastid genome. Five of the targeted genes (ribosomal protein of the large subunit22 [rpl22], rpl23, rpl32, ribosomal protein of the small subunit3 [rps3], and rps16) were shown to be essential even under heterotrophic conditions, despite their loss in at least some parasitic plastid-bearing lineages. This suggests that nonphotosynthetic plastids show elevated rates of gene transfer to the nuclear genome. Knockout of two ribosomal protein genes, rps15 and rpl36, yielded homoplasmic transplastomic mutants, thus indicating nonessentiality. Whereas Δrps15 plants showed only a mild phenotype, Δrpl36 plants were severely impaired in photosynthesis and growth and, moreover, displayed greatly altered leaf morphology. This finding provides strong genetic evidence that chloroplast translational activity influences leaf development, presumably via a retrograde signaling pathway.

Evolutionary constraints on the plastid tRNA set decoding methionine and isoleucine.

The plastid (chloroplast) genomes of seed plants typically encode 30 tRNAs. Employing wobble and superwobble mechanisms, most codon boxes are read by only one or two tRNA species. The reduced set of plastid tRNAs follows the evolutionary trend of organellar genomes to shrink in size and coding capacity. A notable exception is the AUN codon box specifying methionine and isoleucine, which is decoded by four tRNA species in nearly all seed plants. However, three of these four tRNA genes were lost from the genomes of some parasitic plastid-containing lineages, possibly suggesting that less than four tRNA species could be sufficient to decode the triplets in the AUN box. To test this hypothesis, we have performed knockout experiments for the four AUN-decoding tRNAs in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plastids. We find that all four tRNA genes are essential under both autotrophic and heterotrophic growth conditions, possibly suggesting tRNA import into plastids of parasitic plastid-bearing species. Phylogenetic analysis of the four plastid tRNA genes reveals striking conservation of all those bacterial features that are involved in discrimination between the different tRNA species containing CAU anticodons.