Publications by authors named "Yuka Yamaki"

Human genetic disorders are often caused by mutations of compound heterozygosity, where each allele of the mutant gene harbors a different genetic lesion. However, studies of such mutations are hampered, due to the lack of an appropriate model. Here we describe a kinetic model of compound heterozygous variants in an obligate enzyme dimer that contains one mutation in one monomer and the other mutation in the second monomer.

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  • * The study found that N-methylation of guanosine at position 9 (mG9) stabilizes wild-type mt-Leu(UAA) tRNA but destabilizes certain pathogenic variants associated with MELAS.
  • * Findings suggest that modifying the methylation level of mt-tRNAs could be a potential therapeutic approach for mt-tRNA-related diseases by impacting their stability and functionality.
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  • Human mitochondrial tRNAs (mt-tRNAs) are essential for mitochondrial function and can have harmful mutations that affect their stability.
  • A specific modification, -methylation of guanosine at position 9 (m G9), stabilizes the normal mt-tRNA structure but destabilizes certain pathogenic variants linked to diseases like MELAS.
  • The findings indicate that adjusting the methylation level of mt-tRNAs could be a potential strategy for treating mt-tRNA-related diseases, as it affects both normal and mutant tRNA structures differently.
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Posttranslational protein arginylation catalyzed by arginyl transferases is a mechanism to regulate multiple physiological processes. This protein arginylation reaction uses a charged Arg-tRNA as the donor of arginine (Arg). The inherent instability of the ester linkage of the arginyl group to the tRNA, which is sensitive to hydrolysis at the physiological pH, makes it difficult to obtain structural information on how the arginyl transfer reaction is catalyzed.

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Codon usage of each genome is closely correlated with the abundance of tRNA isoacceptors. How codon usage bias is resolved by tRNA post-transcriptional modifications is largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the N-methylation of guanosine at position 37 (mG37) on the 3'-side of the anticodon, while not directly responsible for reading of codons, is a neutralizer that resolves differential decoding of proline codons.

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  • Pseudouridine (Ψ) is a unique nucleoside resulting from RNA modifications that typically doesn’t affect mass measurements, making it "mass-silent."
  • Researchers developed a mass spectrometry technique using deuterium labeling to identify Ψs in ribosomal RNA from specially modified human/mouse cells deficient in uridine synthesis.
  • This new method provides an effective way to detect Ψs, including previously unexplored ones, at very low RNA concentrations, enhancing our understanding of noncoding RNAs' structure and function.
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During ribosome biogenesis, ribosomal RNAs acquire various chemical modifications that ensure the fidelity of translation, and dysregulation of the modification processes can cause proteome changes as observed in cancer and inherited human disorders. Here, we report the complete chemical modifications of all RNAs of the human 80S ribosome as determined with quantitative mass spectrometry. We assigned 228 sites with 14 different post-transcriptional modifications, most of which are located in functional regions of the ribosome.

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We present the complete chemical structures of the rRNAs from the eukaryotic model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae The final structures, as determined with mass spectrometry-based methodology that includes a stable isotope-labelled, non-modified reference RNA, contain 112 sites with 12 different post-transcriptional modifications, including a previously unidentified pseudouridine at position 2345 in 25S rRNA. Quantitative mass spectrometry-based stoichiometric analysis of the different modifications at each site indicated that 94 sites were almost fully modified, whereas the remaining 18 sites were modified to a lesser extent. Superimposed three-dimensional modification maps for S.

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The Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway plays a crucial role in cell proliferation and differentiation via Patched1 (Ptc1), a 12-pass transmembrane receptor protein. The C-terminal cytoplasmic tail of Ptc1 can be cleaved to release the 7th intracellular domain (ICD7), whose function is still unclear. In this study, we found that the ICD7 fragment of Ptc1 associates with polyubiquitinated species.

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