The genetic code is not frozen but still evolving, which can result in the acquisition of 'dialectal' codons that deviate from the universal genetic code. RNA modifications in the anticodon region of tRNAs play a critical role in establishing such non-universal genetic codes. In echinoderm mitochondria, the AAA codon specifies asparagine instead of lysine. By analyzing mitochondrial (mt-) tRNA isolated from the sea urchin (Mesocentrotus nudus), we discovered a novel modified nucleoside, hydroxy-N-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (htA), 3' adjacent to the anticodon (position 37). Biochemical analysis revealed that htA37 has the ability to prevent mt-tRNA from misreading AAA as lysine, thereby indicating that hydroxylation of N-threonylcarbamoyladenosine (tA) contributes to the establishment of the non-universal genetic code in echinoderm mitochondria.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3449 | DOI Listing |
J Zhejiang Univ Sci B
December 2024
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system, belonging to the type II CRISPR/Cas system, is an effective gene-editing tool widely used in different organisms, but the size of Cas9 (SpCas9) is quite large (4.3 kb), which is not convenient for vector delivery. In this study, we used a codon-optimized Cas9 (SaCas9) system to edit the tyrosinase (, oculocutaneous albinism II (), and paired box 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Infect Dis
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States.
RNA viruses possess small genomes encoding a limited repertoire of essential and often multifunctional proteins. Although genetically tagging viral proteins provides a powerful tool for dissecting mechanisms of viral replication and infection, it remains a challenge. Here, we leverage genetic code expansion to develop a recoded strain of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in which the multifunctional nucleoprotein is site-specifically modified with a noncanonical amino acid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Aging is a complex and multifaceted process involving many epigenetic alterations. One key area of interest in aging research is the role of histone modifications, which can dynamically regulate gene expression. Here, we conducted a pan-tissue analysis of the dynamics of seven key histone modifications during human aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Epigenetics
December 2024
Hereditary Cancer Group, ONCOBELL Program, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
Background: Lynch syndrome (LS), characterised by an increased risk for cancer, is mainly caused by germline pathogenic variants affecting a mismatch repair gene (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2). Occasionally, LS may be caused by constitutional MLH1 epimutation (CME) characterised by soma-wide methylation of one allele of the MLH1 promoter. Most of these are "primary" epimutations, arising de novo without any apparent underlying cis-genetic cause, and are reversible between generations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Computer Science, University of Haifa, Haifa 3303221, Israel.
Selective pressure acts on the codon use, optimizing multiple, overlapping signals that are only partially understood. We trained AI models to predict codons given their amino acid sequence in the eukaryotes and and the bacteria and to study the extent to which we can learn patterns in naturally occurring codons to improve predictions. We trained our models on a subset of the proteins and evaluated their predictions on large, separate sets of proteins of varying lengths and expression levels.
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