Symmetrical interactions between the translational operator of the thrS gene and dimeric threonyl transfer RNA synthetase

Threonyl-tRNA synthetase from Escherichia coli represses the translation of its coding gene, thrS, by binding an operator located in the leader region of its messenger RNA. Published data on the structure of this leader region and on its interaction with threonyl-tRNA synthetase support a model in which each of two stem-and-loop structures mimics the anticodon arm of tRNA(Thr) and binds a different subunit of one synthetase dimer.