Clinically Relevant Mutations of Mycobacterial GatCAB Inform Regulation of Translational Fidelity

Abstract

Most bacteria use a two-step indirect pathway to aminoacylate tRNA Gln and tRNA Asn , despite the fact that the indirect pathway consumes more energy and is error prone. We have previously shown that the higher protein synthesis errors from this indirect pathway in mycobacteria allow adaptation to hostile environments such as antibiotic treatment through generation of novel alternate proteins not coded by the genome.