Beyond the Central Dogma: The tRNA epitranscriptome and an alternative genetic code tune translation during stress in eukaryotes, prokaryotes and viral infections

Abstract

The Central Dogma defines the “what” of biology: genes are transcribed into messenger RNAs that are translated into proteins. But it says nothing about the “when” or “how much” of gene expression. Application of new convergent and data‐driven technologies to the already‐known >150 chemical modifications of DNA, RNA and histone proteins is revealing information‐rich systems for scheduling gene expression ‐‐ the epigenome, the epitranscriptome and the epiproteome. Here we explore one of the newest of these ‐‐ a universal “system of systems” in which the transfer RNA epitranscriptome interacts with an alternative genetic code to fast‐track production of survival proteins during stress in eukaryotes, prokaryotes and viruses. The tRNA molecules themselves are further repurposed as small regulatory RNAs in a system that is only now emerging with the development of new analytical and data mining tools. We will explore examples of the epitranscriptome and small regulatory RNAs in model bacterial and viral pathogens, and in human cells. The components of these systems are now being recognized as drivers of many human diseases and are emerging as new tools for academic and industrial research and development.Support or Funding InformationThis work has been funded by the US National Institutes of Health, the US National Science Foundation, the National Research Foundation of Singapore through the Singapore‐MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, the United States‐Israel Binational Science Foundation, Agilent Technologies and NTUitive.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.