Protein biosynthesis is a fundamental process in which genetic information is translated into functional cellular proteome. The key players are aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, the enzymes that read the genetic code by linking the cognate pairs of amino acids and tRNAs for the ribosome. At the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science University of Zagreb, we investigate the mechanisms by which aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases establish high aminoacylation accuracy and their capacity to act as antibiotic targets.
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AARSs) charge tRNAs with cognate amino acids in a complex reaction that may include intrinsic error correction step(s). Hydrolytic editing evolved when initial AARS selectivity against alternative non-cognate amino acid substrate was inadequate to support the required fidelity of protein synthesis. We explore mechanisms of the synthetic (charging) and editing pathways and the cellular consequences of aminoacylation errors. We also study aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases as antibiotic targets and the mechanisms by which these enzymes may evolve resistance.
Read more• Ita Gruic Sovulj was elected as a member of EMBO. She gave a talk at the meeting of the EMBO community in Heidelberg, 29th October -1st November 2024. Congratulations! https://www.embo.org/press-releases/outstanding-scientists-elected-to-embo-membership/
• Ana Madunić has been awarded by the Rector of the University of Zagreb for her work "Potential protein interactors of atypical arginyl-tRNA synthetase from predatory bacterium Herpetosiphon aurantiacus". Congratulations!
• Our manuscript “Kinetic characterization of amino acid activation by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases using radiolabelled γ-[32P]ATP” has been accepted in FEBS Open Bio https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2211-5463.13903