Expanding the Scope of Single- and Double-Noncanonical Amino Acid Mutagenesis in Mammalian Cells Using Orthogonal Polyspecific Leucyl-tRNA Synthetases

Biochemistry. 2018 Jan 30;57(4):441-445. doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00952. Epub 2017 Nov 15.

Abstract

Engineered aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pairs that enable site-specific incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) into proteins in living cells have emerged as powerful tools in chemical biology. The Escherichia coli-derived leucyl-tRNA synthetase (EcLeuRS)/tRNA pair is a promising candidate for ncAA mutagenesis in mammalian cells, but it has been engineered to charge only a limited set of ncAAs so far. Here we show that two highly polyspecific EcLeuRS mutants can efficiently charge a large array of useful ncAAs into proteins expressed in mammalian cells, while discriminating against the 20 canonical amino acids. When combined with an opal-suppressing pyrrolysyl pair, these EcLeuRS variants further enabled site-specific incorporation of different combinations of two distinct ncAAs into proteins expressed in mammalian cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / chemistry*
  • Escherichia coli / enzymology
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / metabolism*
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Leucine-tRNA Ligase / metabolism*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed / methods*
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Leucine-tRNA Ligase