Nucleotide substitution in the amino acid acceptor stem of lysine transfer RNA causes missense suppression

Previous results from this laboratory indicated that, in Escherichia coli K12, a new class of missense suppressors, which read the lysine codons AAA and AAG, may be misacylated lysine transfer RNAs. We therefore isolated and determined the nucleotide sequence of the lysine tRNA from two of the suppressor strains. In each case, we found both wild-type and mutant species of lysine tRNA a result consistent with evidence that there are two genes for lysine tRNA in the E. coli genome. The wild-type sequence was essentially identical to that reported for lysine tRNA from E. coli B. The mutant species isolated from each suppressor strain had a U for C70 nucleotide substitution, demonstrating that the AAG suppressor is a mutant lysine tRNA. The nucleotide substitution in the amino acid acceptor stem is consistent with the in vivo evidence that the suppressor corrects AAA and AAG missense mutations by inserting an amino acid other than lysine during polypeptide synthesis. This report represents the first verification of missense suppression caused by misacylation of a mutant tRNA.