DATE2026.05.28 #Press Releases

Elucidating How Fungi Attach Amino Acids to Sterols

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

Elucidating the Structure and Function of ErdS, an Enzyme that Modifies Lipids Using tRNA

Summary

A research group led by graduate student Hanako Murayama, Associate Professor Yumigen Ito, and Professor Osamu Nureki at the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, in international collaboration with the University of Strasbourg, France, and others, has clarified the mechanism of ErdS, an enzyme that attaches amino acids to ergosterol, a lipid abundant in the cell membrane of fungi ErdS is an enzyme that normally synthesizes proteins.

ErdS modifies lipids using tRNA, which is normally used in protein synthesis, but its detailed function was not known. In this study, we analyzed the three-dimensional structure of ErdS using cryo-electron microscopy and showed that there is a characteristic part inside this enzyme that is thought to accept lipids. Furthermore, it was shown that the tRNA end moves significantly to link the reaction between the two sites within the enzyme. In addition, they found that disruption of ErdS function affects fungal spore formation, germination, mycelial growth, and response to environmental stresses.

These results demonstrate how tRNAs are used for reactions other than protein synthesis, and are expected to lead to a better understanding of fungal cell membrane function and the search for new antifungal drug targets.

tRNA-dependent Erg-Asp Synthesis by ErdS

Publication Information

Journal name	Nature Communications
Title of paper	Structure of ergosteryl-aspartate synthase reveals how an entrapped tRNA is used like a prosthetic swinging arm in the synthesis of aminoacylated sterols sterols
Authors	Hanako Murayama, Nathaniel Yakobov, Nassira Mahmoudi, Sasha Legrosdidier, Nicolas Fournier, Solène Zuttion, Kanata Matsumoto, Michihiro Nishimura, Jingwei Ji, Bruno Senger, Laurence Huck, Howard B. Gamper, Yoshiaki Kise, Ralph E. Kleiner, Mathieu Frechin, Ya-Ming Hou, Hubert D. Becker, Yuzuru Itoh, Frédéric Frédéric Becker Yuzuru Itoh, Frédéric Fischer and Osamu Nureki
DOI	10.1038/s41467-026-73135-8