Seryl tRNA Synthetase (SARS)

Vincent et al. (1997) assembled 2 overlapping clones of SARS, which they called SERS, isolated from human fetal and infant brain cDNA libraries. They obtained the full-length cDNA by 5-prime RACE of a brain cDNA library.

The deduced 514-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of about 59 kD. SARS has a 2-domain structure consisting of a tRNA-binding domain and a catalytic domain, which contains the 3 motifs shared by class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Motifs 2 and 3 share sequence conservation between prokaryotic and eukaryotic seryl-tRNA synthetases. SARS has no mitochondrial import signal sequence. Partial Sars protein sequences from mouse and Chinese hamster share 94% and 92% identity with human SARS