Temperature related alterations in the acidic alanine-rich "A" protein from the 50S ribosomal particle of the extreme halophile, Halobacterium cutirubrum.

50-S ribosomal subunits from the extreme halophilic bacterium, Halobacterium cutirubrum, contain an alanine-rich acidic "A" protein which resembles the L7--L12 multimer (Kaltschmidt and Wittmann, 1970) found in the 50-S ribosomal subunit of Escherichia coli cells. The protein contains 24 mole % alanine and is devoid of histidine, tryptophan and cysteine. Unlike E. coli which has two forms of the "A" protein distinguished solely by the acetylation state of the serine amino terminus. H. cutirubrum 50-S subunits contain only one unsubstituted form of the "A" protein in vivo. However, during purification of ribosomes from cells grown between 25 and 37 degrees C the latter "A" protein undergoes rapid, specific, in vitro enzymatic alteration at its carboxy-terminal end. When the halophile is grown in the temperature range of 40 to 42 degrees C the cleaving enzyme is not active and only one form of the "A" protein is found on the ribosomes.