Primary structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene for methionyl-tRNA synthetase.

The sequence of a 5-kilobase DNA insert containing the structural gene for yeast cytoplasmic methionyl-tRNA synthetase has been determined and a unique open reading frame of 2,253 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide chain of 751 amino acids (Mr, 85,500) has been characterized. The data obtained on the purified enzyme (subunit size, amino acid composition, and COOH-terminal sequence) are consistent with the gene structure. The protein sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence reveals no obvious internal repeats. This protein sequence shows a high degree of homology with that of Escherichia coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase within a region that forms the putative methionyl adenylate binding site. This strongly suggests that both proteins derive from a common ancestor.