Synthesis of Transfer Ribonucleic Acids with Uridine or 2'-O-Methylribothymidine at Position 54 in Developing Dictyostelium discoideum

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Abstract
D. discoideum the ribothymidine (rT) content of tRNA is 0.9 mol%, but decreases progressively during development into spores. To elucidate which nucleosides replace rT at position 54 in developmental tRNA vegetative and developmental tRNA from the slime mold are characterized. Specific tRNA were separated by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis. During early developmental stages, all tRNA species that could be separated by this method were newly synthesized. A new tRNA with uridine in place of rT and having an electrophoretic mobility similar to vegetative tRNAAsn was detected during the early preaggregation stage. This developmental tRNA was also extracted from purified polysomes. When development proceeds from preaggregation to postaggregation, tRNA accumulate with 2''-O-methylribothymidine in place of rT. These developmental tRNA are important for the synthesis of specific developmental proteins.