Recombinant E.coli rnpA protein

RnpA, also known as Rnase P protein, is an essential enzyme consisting of the C5 protein (encoded by rnpA) and the catalytic M1 RNA (encoded by rnpB) subunits. rnpA is ribonucleoprotein that catalyzes the removal of the 50-leader elements of precursor tRNAs and generates the mature 50-end of tRNAs. This step is essential for the formation of functional tRNA molecules in bacteria, archaea and eukarya. More importantly, it has recently been demonstrated that RNase P is required for the endonucleolytic separation of certain polycistronic tRNA transcripts such as valV valW, leuQ leuP leuV and secG leuU. Thus, it was hypothesized that the essential function of RNase P might be related to the complete absence of a particular tRNAthat was dependent on the enzyme for initial separation from polycistronic transcripts. Recombinant E.coli rnpA, was expressed in E. coli and purified by using conventional chromatography techniques.