The involvement of two distinct regions of 23 S ribosomal RNA in tRNA selection.

The role of ribosomal RNA in maintaining the accuracy of translation has been investigated genetically by selecting for rRNA mutations that promoted frameshifting at a specific site in a reporter gene in Escherichia coli. Mutations were recovered in two different regions of 23 S rRNA and each promoted readthrough of stop codons as well as increasing the levels of frameshifting. The first group of mutations was in a small stem loop (the 1916 loop) in domain IV of 23 S rRNA. This stem-loop has been mapped to the subunit interface of the ribosome, close to the decoding center on the 30 S subunit. The second group of mutations was in helix 89, one of the helices emerging from the central loop of domain V. Helix 89 has been implicated in subunit-subunit interactions and peptidyltransferase activity, and it is proposed that mutations in helix 89 influence the accuracy of decoding by affecting the interaction of the CCA end of the tRNA with the peptidyltransferase center.