Liliana Torcoroma García, Ney Ribeiro Leite, Juan D Alfonzo, Otavio Henrique Thiemann
Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, 13560-590, Brasil.
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 2007 SepThe kinetoplast genetic code deviates from the universal code in that 90% of mitochondrial tryptophans are specified by UGA instead of UGG codons. A single nucleus-encoded tRNA Trp(CCA) is used by both nuclear and mitochondria genes, since all kinetoplast tRNAs are imported into the mitochondria from the cytoplasm. To allow decoding of the mitochondrial UGA codons as tryptophan, the tRNA Trp(CCA) anticodon is changed to UCA by an editing event. Two tryptophanyl tRNA synthetases (TrpRSs) have been identified in Trypanosoma brucei: TbTrpRS1 and TbTrpRS2 which localize to the cytoplasm and mitochondria respectively. We used inducible RNA interference (RNAi) to assess the role of TbTrpRSs. Our data validates previous observations of TrpRS as potential drug design targets and investigates the RNAi effect on the mitochondria of the parasite.
Liliana Torcoroma García, Ney Ribeiro Leite, Juan D Alfonzo, Otavio Henrique Thiemann. Effects of Trypanosoma brucei tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetases silencing by RNA interference. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 2007 Sep;102(6):757-62
PMID: 17924007
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