Symbol aa-tRNA-synt_II InterPro IPR004364 Pfam structures | Pfam PF00152 CDD cd00768 PDB RCSB PDB; PDBe; PDBj | |
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, class II (D, K and N) (EC 6.1.1.) is a protein domain that catalyses the attachment of an amino acid to its cognate transfer RNA molecule in a highly specific two-step reaction. This protein differs widely in size and oligomeric state, and has a limited sequence homology.
The 20 aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are divided into two classes, I and II. Class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases contain a characteristic Rossman fold catalytic domain and are mostly monomeric. Class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases share an anti-parallel beta-sheet fold flanked by alpha-helices, and are mostly dimeric or multimeric, containing at least three conserved regions. However, tRNA binding involves an alpha-helical structure that is conserved between class I and class II synthetases. In reactions catalysed by the class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, the aminoacyl group is coupled to the 2'-hydroxyl of the tRNA, while, in class II reactions, the 3'-hydroxyl site is preferred. The synthetases specific for arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, tyrosine, tryptophan and valine belong to class I synthetases; these synthetases are further divided into three subclasses, a, b and c, according to sequence homology. The synthetases specific for alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, glycine, histidine, lysine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, and threonine belong to class-II synthetases.