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Cited by 46RNA and protein synthesis mechanismsRNA modifications and cancerGenomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Enjoy the Silence: Nearly Half of Human tRNA Genes Are Silent

Open access
Torres, Adrian Gabriel·2019·Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
DOI 10.1177/1177932219868454PMC PMC6688141
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Abstract

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are key components of the translation machinery. They read codons on messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and deliver the appropriate amino acid to the ribosome for protein synthesis. The human genome encodes more than 500 tRNA genes but their individual contribution to the cellular tRNA pool is unclear. In recent years, novel methods were developed to improve the quantification of tRNA gene expression, most of which rely on next-generation sequencing such as small RNA-Seq applied to tRNAs (tRNA-Seq). In a previous study, we presented a bioinformatics strategy to analyse tRNA-Seq datasets that we named ‘isodecoder-specific tRNA gene contribution profiling’ (Iso-tRNA-CP). Using Iso-tRNA-CP, we showed that tRNA gene expression is cell type- and tissue-specific and that this process can regulate tRNA-derived fragments abundance. An additional observation that stems from that work is that approximately half of human tRNA genes appeared silent or poorly expressed. In this commentary, I discuss this finding in light of the current literature and speculate on potential functions that transcriptionally silent tRNA genes may play. Studying silent tRNA genes may offer a unique opportunity to unravel novel mechanisms of cell regulation associated to tRNA biology.

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Authors
Torres, A. G.
Affiliations
Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
ORCID
Torres, Adrian Gabriel
Venue
Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2019-01
Volume
13
Pages
1177932219868454-1177932219868454
ISSN
1177-9322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/1177932219868454
PMC
PMC6688141
OpenAlex
W2967315044
Cited by
46
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Bioinformatics and Biology Insights (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Institute for Research in Biomedicine
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA modifications and cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
Keywords
tRNA genes, tRNA gene expression, tRNA-derived fragments, tRNA-seq, cell type-specific gene expression, tissue-specific gene expression, human genome

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