tRNA Cellular Roles, Functions, Modifications and Their Importance in Central Nervous System: A Neuroscientific Perspective

Abstract

Modern research in the last decade has unearthed several roles of tRNA such as participation in regulatory, biosynthetic, immunological and stress-responsive roles apart from their “housekeeping” roles in protein synthesis. The tRNA undergoes numerous chemical modifications and fragmentations that contribute to stability, versatility aiding its participation in an array of cellular functions. Also, tRNA's acts a hub connecting environmental inputs to gene expression and cellular outcomes. It participates in immunomodulation, microbiological commensalism/pathogenicity and processing quality control human neuropathology states through epigenetics. Several mutations in the genes encoding enzymes/proteins in these pathways cause disease pathologies in CNS. The present review covers in detail the broad area of tRNA biogenesis, cellular roles and modifications highlighting key proteins/enzymes, machinery and the genes involved. The robust structure, chemical activation, abundance, and rich information content of tRNA conferring an epithet of “Swiss army knife” indispensable in cellular functions and health, yet highly susceptible to rewiring in disease.  Several CNS diseases are reported currently reported as protein malformation and folding disorders. Given the central role of tRNA in the protein synthesis, the review updates the currently knowledge in this area of disease genomics.