Required Elements in tRNA for Methylation by the Eukaryotic tRNA (Guanine- N 2 -) Methyltransferase (Trm11-Trm112 Complex).

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Trm11 and Trm112 complex (Trm11-Trm112) methylates the 2-amino group of guanosine at position 10 in tRNA and forms N 2 -methylguanosine. To determine the elements required in tRNA for methylation by Trm11-Trm112, we prepared 60 tRNA transcript variants and tested them for methylation by Trm11-Trm112. The results show that the precursor tRNA is not a substrate for Trm11-Trm112. Furthermore, the CCA terminus is essential for methylation by Trm11-Trm112, and Trm11-Trm112 also only methylates tRNAs with a regular-size variable region. In addition, the G10-C25 base pair is required for methylation by Trm11-Trm112. The data also demonstrated that Trm11-Trm112 recognizes the anticodon-loop and that U38 in tRNA Ala acts negatively in terms of methylation. Likewise, the U32-A38 base pair in tRNA Cys negatively affects methylation. The only exception in our in vitro study was tRNA Val AAC1 . Our experiments showed that the tRNA Val AAC1 transcript was slowly methylated by Trm11-Trm112. However, position 10 in this tRNA was reported to be unmodified G. We purified tRNA Val AAC1 from wild-type and trm11 gene deletion strains and confirmed that a portion of tRNA Val AAC1 is methylated by Trm11-Trm112 in S. cerevisiae . Thus, our study explains the m 2 G10 modification pattern of all S. cerevisiae class I tRNAs and elucidates the Trm11-Trm112 binding sites.