N-terminal and C-terminal modifications affect folding, release from the ribosomes and stability of in vitro synthesized proteins

Important aspects of translation are release and folding of the synthesized protein into its three-dimensional structure. Studies from our group indicated that during in vitro protein synthesis a large portion of full-length polypeptides apparently accumulated as peptidyl-tRNA on ribosomes. We have also shown that some proteins though released in biologically active form may be inactivated without being degraded. These experiments were carried out by coupled transcription/translation using an Escherichia coli extract in which eukaryotic or prokaryotic test proteins were synthesized from their coding sequence inserted into specific plasmids. Experiments described here were designed to analyze the effects of N-terminal and C-terminal modifications of the coding sequence on the ribosomal release/termiaation process and on the stability of the newly synthesized protein. Elimination;of the leader sequence in two proteins tested, mitochondrial rhodanese and bacterial p-lactamase, caused an increase in the percentage of polypeptides released from the ribosomes relative to total synthesis. Conversely, an N-terminal extension such as a histidine-tag impaired the ribosomal release process. Also, a hydrophobic N-terminal modification of the synthesized protein reduced release of newly formed protein from the ribosomes. A C-terminal extension of the coding sequence for rhodanese by one amino acid decreased the percentage released polypeptide and furthermore affected the stability of the in vitro formed protein. We propose that a regulatory mechanism exists by which N-terminal and C-terminal sequences of a newly synthesized protein have feed-back effects on the termination factor-mediated release and on the stability of the native three-dimensional structure. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.