Functional analysis of seven ribosomal systems from extremely halophilic archaea

Abstract

The sensitivity of seven extremely halophilic archaeal protein synthesis systems to 42 inhibitors with different domain (kingdom), functional, and structural specificity has been studied. The results obtained underline the functional variability of archaeal ribosomes when compared with bacterial and eukaryotic reference systems. Halophilic ribosomes are sensitive to some of the specific inhibitors of bacteria, such as thiostrepton, carbomycin A, and griseoviridin, or of eukaryotes, such as anisomycin and bruceantin, and extremely sensitive to some of the universal inhibitors, such as puromycin and sparsomycin. Suitable control experiments allow us to postulate that some negative inhibitory results may be caused by competition between positively charged antibiotics and the high ionic conditions required for halophilic protein synthesis.Key words: protein synthesis inhibitors, halophilic archaea, ribosomes.