Slr0006-like proteins: A TsaC/TsaC2/YciO subfamily exclusive to cyanobacteria

The universally conserved TsaC/TsaC2/YciO family of proteins is essential for the N⁶-threonylcarbamoyladenosine modification present in almost all ANN-decoding tRNAs. Previously, the family has been grouped into the TsaC/TsaC2 and YciO subfamilies. We used sequence analysis, phylogenetic methods and homology modeling to show that a third subfamily, the Slr0006-like subfamily, exists exclusively in some cyanobacteria. The Slr0006-like proteins are solely found together with both TsaC and YciO homologs, indicating a distinct function for the Slr0006-like subfamily. Accordingly, the homology models show that the amino acids in their putative binding clefts differ significantly. Hence, we introduce a new cyanobacterial subfamily of proteins with the TsaC-domain fold, along with the generated classification rules to assign new members to the correct cyanobacterial subfamily.