Advances in tRNA Biology

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules: Nucleic Acids".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2024) | Viewed by 5906

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, 5101 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
Interests: indirect tRNA aminoacylation; accuracy mechanisms in protein biosynthesis; membrane proteins; protein-protein interactions; enzyme kinetics; diversity in STEM; women in STEM
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Advances in tRNA Biology”, will focus on the myriad of different functional roles played by tRNAs in biology. We invite the submission of reviews, research, and method articles that focus on any aspect of tRNA biology, including their canonical roles in tRNA aminoacylation and translation; alternative functions, e.g., as primers in viral reverse transcription; tRNA processing and modifications; and beyond. 

Dr. Tamara Hendrickson
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3071 KiB  
Article
Plasmodium, the Apicomplexa Outlier When It Comes to Protein Synthesis
by José R. Jaramillo Ponce and Magali Frugier
Biomolecules 2024, 14(1), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14010046 - 29 Dec 2023
Viewed by 2439
Abstract
Plasmodium is an obligate intracellular parasite that has numerous interactions with different hosts during its elaborate life cycle. This is also the case for the other parasites belonging to the same phylum Apicomplexa. In this study, we bioinformatically identified the components of [...] Read more.
Plasmodium is an obligate intracellular parasite that has numerous interactions with different hosts during its elaborate life cycle. This is also the case for the other parasites belonging to the same phylum Apicomplexa. In this study, we bioinformatically identified the components of the multi-synthetase complexes (MSCs) of several Apicomplexa parasites and modelled their assembly using AlphaFold2. It appears that none of these MSCs resemble the two MSCs that we have identified and characterized in Plasmodium. Indeed, tRip, the central protein involved in the association of the two Plasmodium MSCs is different from its homologues, suggesting also that the tRip-dependent import of exogenous tRNAs is not conserved in other apicomplexan parasites. Based on this observation, we searched for obvious differences that could explain the singularity of Plasmodium protein synthesis by comparing tRNA genes and amino acid usage in the different genomes. We noted a contradiction between the large number of asparagine residues used in Plasmodium proteomes and the single gene encoding the tRNA that inserts them into proteins. This observation remains true for all the Plasmodia strains studied, even those that do not contain long asparagine homorepeats. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in tRNA Biology)
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Review

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26 pages, 1923 KiB  
Review
tRNA and tsRNA: From Heterogeneity to Multifaceted Regulators
by Yun Li, Zongyu Yu, Wenlin Jiang, Xinyi Lyu, Ailian Guo, Xiaorui Sun, Yiting Yang and Yunfang Zhang
Biomolecules 2024, 14(10), 1340; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14101340 - 21 Oct 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2980
Abstract
As the most ancient RNA, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a more complex role than their constitutive function as amino acid transporters in the protein synthesis process. The transcription and maturation of tRNA in cells are subject to stringent regulation, resulting in the formation [...] Read more.
As the most ancient RNA, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) play a more complex role than their constitutive function as amino acid transporters in the protein synthesis process. The transcription and maturation of tRNA in cells are subject to stringent regulation, resulting in the formation of tissue- and cell-specific tRNA pools with variations in tRNA overall abundance, composition, modification, and charging levels. The heterogeneity of tRNA pools contributes to facilitating the formation of histocyte-specific protein expression patterns and is involved in diverse biological processes. Moreover, tRNAs can be recognized by various RNase under physiological and pathological conditions to generate tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) and serve as small regulatory RNAs in various biological processes. Here, we summarize these recent insights into the heterogeneity of tRNA and highlight the advances in the regulation of tRNA function and tsRNA biogenesis by tRNA modifications. We synthesize diverse mechanisms of tRNA and tsRNA in embryonic development, cell fate determination, and epigenetic inheritance regulation. We also discuss the potential clinical applications based on the new knowledge of tRNA and tsRNA as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and new therapeutic strategies for multiple diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in tRNA Biology)
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