Department of Microbiology and Cell Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Cancer and Genetic Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 Mar 18;47(5):2143-2159. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz011.
tRNA are post-transcriptionally modified by chemical modifications that affect all aspects of tRNA biology. An increasing number of mutations underlying human genetic diseases map to genes encoding for tRNA modification enzymes. However, our knowledge on human tRNA-modification genes remains fragmentary and the most comprehensive RNA modification database currently contains information on approximately 20% of human cytosolic tRNAs, primarily based on biochemical studies. Recent high-throughput methods such as DM-tRNA-seq now allow annotation of a majority of tRNAs for six specific base modifications. Furthermore, we identified large gaps in knowledge when we predicted all cytosolic and mitochondrial human tRNA modification genes. Only 48% of the candidate cytosolic tRNA modification enzymes have been experimentally validated in mammals (either directly or in a heterologous system). Approximately 23% of the modification genes (cytosolic and mitochondrial combined) remain unknown. We discuss these 'unidentified enzymes' cases in detail and propose candidates whenever possible. Finally, tissue-specific expression analysis shows that modification genes are highly expressed in proliferative tissues like testis and transformed cells, but scarcely in differentiated tissues, with the exception of the cerebellum. Our work provides a comprehensive up to date compilation of human tRNA modifications and their enzymes that can be used as a resource for further studies.
tRNA 经化学修饰后进行转录后修饰,这些修饰影响 tRNA 生物学的各个方面。越来越多的人类遗传疾病相关突变可归因于编码 tRNA 修饰酶的基因。然而,我们对人类 tRNA 修饰基因的了解仍然很零碎,目前最全面的 RNA 修饰数据库主要基于生化研究,包含了约 20%的人细胞质 tRNA 的信息。最近的高通量方法,如 DM-tRNA-seq,现在可以注释大多数特定碱基修饰的 tRNA。此外,当我们预测所有细胞质和线粒体人类 tRNA 修饰基因时,我们发现知识存在很大的空白。只有 48%的候选细胞质 tRNA 修饰酶在哺乳动物中(直接或在异源系统中)得到了实验验证。大约 23%的修饰基因(细胞质和线粒体的组合)仍然未知。我们详细讨论了这些“未识别的酶”案例,并在可能的情况下提出了候选酶。最后,组织特异性表达分析表明,修饰基因在增殖组织(如睾丸和转化细胞)中高度表达,但在分化组织中几乎不表达,小脑除外。我们的工作提供了一个全面的、最新的人类 tRNA 修饰及其酶的汇编,可以作为进一步研究的资源。