New role for tRNAs

sea-maid submitted, created time 7 months 3 weeks (www.pnas.org)

tRNA sequences can mediate the cis- and trans-splicing of mRNAs. From this study, we can see that the hybrid RNAs are spliced at the specific pretRNA splicing sites, releasing both functional tRNAs that suppress nonsense mutations and translatable mRNAs that activate the signal transduction pathway.

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: pre-mRNAs tRNA nonsense mutations pre-mRNA splicing signal pathways tRNA splicing

Life without RNase P.

kavin submitted, created time 8 months 2 days (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

The universality of ribonuclease P (RNase P), the ribonucleoprotein essential for transfer RNA (tRNA) 5' maturation, is challenged in the archaeon Nanoarchaeum equitans. In this study, the researchers's findings demonstrate how nature can cope with the loss of the universal and supposedly ancient RNase P through genomic rearrangement at tRNA genes under the pressure of genome condensation.

3 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: transfer RNA tRNA splicing Nanoarchaeum equitans tRNA tRNA stability RNase P RNA

The human RNA kinase hClp1 is active on 3' transfer RNA exons and short interfering RNAs

yoyotaxi submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.nature.com)

Here scientists report that the kinase hClp1 phosphorylates and licenses synthetic siRNAs to become assembled into RISC for subsequent target RNA cleavage. More importantly, they reveal the physiological role of hClp1 as the RNA kinase that phosphorylates the 5' end of the 3' exon during human tRNA splicing, allowing the subsequent ligation of both exon halves by an unknown tRNA ligase. The investigation of this novel enzymatic activity of hClp1 in the context of mRNA 3'-end formation, where no RNA phosphorylation event has hitherto been predicted, remains a challenge for the future.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: RNA kinase hClp1 RISC tRNA splicing