This report describes a novel RNA-binding protein, SECp43, that associates specifically with mammalian selenocysteine tRNA (tRNASec). SECp43, identified from a degenerate PCR screen, is a highly conserved protein with two ribonucleoprotein-binding domains and a polar/acidic carboxy terminus. The protein and corresponding mRNA are generally expressed in rat tissues and mammalian cell lines. To gain insight into the biological role of SECp43, affinity-purified antibody was employed to identify its molecular partners. Surprisingly, the application of native HeLa cell extracts to a SECp43 antibody column results in the purification of a 90-nt RNA species identified by direct sequencing and Northern blot analysis as tRNASec. The purification of tRNASec by the antibody column is striking, based on the low abundance of this tRNA species. Using recombinant SECp43 as a probe for interacting protein partners, we also identify a 48-kDa interacting protein, which is a possible component of the mammalian selenocysteine insertion (SECIS) pathway. To our knowledge, SECp43 is the first cloned protein demonstrated to associate specifically with eukaryotic tRNASec.

Selenocysteine biosynthesis and its cotranslational incorporation into selenoproteins are achieved by a complex molecular machinery (reviewed in Hüttenhofer & Böck, 1998). A major wheel in this mechanism is the tRNASec, which plays a pivotal role. It is first charged with serine by the conventional SerRS, the seryl-residue being further converted in situ to the selenocysteyl-residue by the selenocysteine synthase enzyme. The charged selenocysteyl-tRNASec delivers selenocysteine to the nascent polypeptide chain in response to a reprogrammed UGA codon. The classical elongation factors EF-Tu (in bacteria) or EF1-α (in eukaryotes) do not intervene at this stage. Instead, this process requires a selenocysteine-specific translation factor, called SELB in bacteria, but for which no eukaryotic homologue has been cloned yet. Interestingly, antideterminants against EF-Tu binding were found in the Escherichia coli tRNASec (Rudinger et al., 1996). Based on the several functions that this tRNA has to accomplish, it is reasonable to expect that the tRNASec secondary structure should exhibit distinctive structural features deviating from classical elongator tRNAs. In this regard, functional studies, structural probing, and sequence comparisons confirmed the earlier proposal that the bacterial tRNASec needs an 8-bp long amino acceptor stem and a 6-bp long D-stem to function, instead of the canonical 7 bp and 3/4 bp, respectively (Leinfelder et al., 1988; Baron et al., 1990, 1993; Tormay et al., 1994).

Insertion of selenocysteine into a growing peptide requires the unusual tRNASec (Zinoni et al., 1987; Stadtman, 1990; Böck et al., 1991). This tRNA has an extended D-stem containing six base pairs, which, in the case of eukaryotic tRNASec (euk-tRNASec), is the key identity element for selenylation and phosphorylation (Wu & Gross, 1994; Amberg et al., 1996). Two secondary structures have been proposed for the euk-tRNASec, which differ in the base pairing of the acceptor/T helical domain (Diamond et al., 1981; Böck et al., 1991; Sturchler et al., 1993). One structure has the normal seven base pairs in the acceptor stem and five base pairs in the T-stem (7/5 structure, Fig. 1, left), and is characterized by an unusually long four-nucleotide unpaired region between the acceptor and D-stems (Connector 1) and an unpaired nucleotide, C64a, in the T-stem. The alternate structure features the normal two nucleotides in Connector 1 and a 13-base pair acceptor/T domain comprised of nine base pairs in the acceptor stem and four in the T-stem (9/4 structure, Fig. 1, right). This 9/4 structure was initially proposed by analogy with the prokaryotic tRNASec (prok-tRNASec), which also contains 13 base pairs in the acceptor/T helical domain. However, in this case, there are eight and five base pairs in the acceptor and T-stems, respectively. The acceptor/T helical domain having 13 base pairs is thought to be a key structural element determining the functionalities pattern of tRNASec in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Böck et al., 1991).