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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

RNA Catalyst as a Reporter for Screening Drugs against RNA Editing in Trypanosomes
Published on: July 22, 2014
Effects of Trypanosoma brucei tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetases silencing by RNA interference
Liliana Torcoroma García1, Ney Ribeiro Leite, Juan D Alfonzo
1Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, 13560-590, Brasil.
Abstract:
The 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.
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