Ribosomal protein phosphorylation induced during Q fever or by lipopolysaccharide: in vitro translation is stimulated by infected liver ribosomes.

Q fever, as well as the lipopolysaccharide prepared from the rickettsial agent Coxiella burnetii, stimulates the phosphorylation of guinea pig liver ribosomal protein S6. In vitro mRNA and ribosome-dependent rabbit reticulocyte lysate translation systems reconstituted with ribosomes and mRNAs from infected animal livers were more active than those with mRNAs and ribosomes from uninfected animals. Treatment of ribosomes with a ribosomal supernatant phosphatase reduced the in vitro translation activities; the largest decreases occurred in systems with ribosomes and mRNAs from infected liver. These experiments provide a basis for explaining the increased hepatic protein synthesis during Q fever and demonstrate, perhaps for the first time, the phosphorylation of ribosomal protein in response to lipopolysaccharide. The implications of these observations are discussed in the context of previous studies on stimulated transcription and translation during Q fever.