Amino Acid Toxicities of Escherichia coli That Are Prevented by Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase Amino Acid Editing

Leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS) has evolved an editing function to clear misactivated amino acids. An Escherichia coli-based assay was established to identify amino acids that compromise the fidelity of LeuRS and translation. Multiple nonstandard as well as standard amino acids were toxic to the cell when LeuRS editing was inactivated.