Helm Mark, Alfonzo Juan D
Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Staudingerweg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
Department of Microbiology and The Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Ohio State Biochemistry Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Chem Biol. 2014 Feb 20;21(2):174-85. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.10.015. Epub 2013 Dec 5.
Nature combines existing biochemical building blocks, at times with subtlety of purpose. RNA modifications are a prime example of this, where standard RNA nucleosides are decorated with chemical groups and building blocks that we recall from our basic biochemistry lectures. The result: a wealth of chemical diversity whose full biological relevance has remained elusive despite being public knowledge for some time. Here, we highlight several modifications that, because of their chemical intricacy, rely on seemingly unrelated pathways to provide cofactors for their synthesis. Besides their immediate role in affecting RNA function, modifications may act as sensors and transducers of information that connect a cell's metabolic state to its translational output, carefully orchestrating a delicate balance between metabolic rate and protein synthesis at a system's level.
大自然将现有的生化构件组合在一起，有时目的微妙。RNA修饰就是一个典型例子，标准的RNA核苷被化学基团和构件修饰，这些我们在基础生物化学课程中就已学过。结果是产生了丰富的化学多样性，尽管这一情况已为人所知一段时间，但它们完整的生物学相关性仍难以捉摸。在此，我们重点介绍几种修饰，由于其化学复杂性，它们依赖看似不相关的途径来为其合成提供辅因子。除了在影响RNA功能方面的直接作用外，修饰还可能作为信息的传感器和传递器，将细胞的代谢状态与其翻译输出联系起来，在系统层面精心协调代谢速率和蛋白质合成之间的微妙平衡。
