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Demonstration of an altered phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase in an analogue-resistant mutant of Aspergillus nidulans

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Summary

We have isolated and characterized a new class of p-fluorophenylalanine (FPA)-resistant mutant in Aspergillus nidulans using a phenA strain as the wild type, by optimizing the conditions of growth. All four spontaneous mutants selected on a medium containing FPA were found to be recessive to their wild-type alleles in heterozygous diploids. Complementation analyses and linkage data showed that they were allelic and mapped at a single locus (fpaU) in the facA-riboD interval on the right arm of linkage group V. Partial purification and characterization of Phe-tRNA synthetase from wild-type and mutant strains revealed that the mutant enzyme had a greatly reduced ability to activate the analogue. It is suggested that mutation in the fpaU gene brings about a structural alteration in Phe-tRNA synthetase.

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Abbreviations

FPA:

DL-p-fluorophenylalanine

phenA :

auxotroph of phenylalanine

Phe-tRNA synthetase:

phenylalanyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Patna University, 800005, Patna, India

    Bhupendra N. Tiwary & Umakant Sinha

  2. Department of Microbiology, Bhopal University, 462026, Bhopal, India

    Prakash S. Bisen

Authors
  1. Bhupendra N. Tiwary
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  2. Prakash S. Bisen
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  3. Umakant Sinha
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Additional information

Communicated by H. Böhme

Current address: Department of Biological Sciences (M/C 066) The University of Illinois at Chicago, Box 4348, Chicago, IL 60680, USA

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Tiwary, B.N., Bisen, P.S. & Sinha, U. Demonstration of an altered phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase in an analogue-resistant mutant of Aspergillus nidulans . Mol Gen Genet 209, 164–169 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329853

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329853

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