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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

An In Vitro Assay to Detect tRNA-Isopentenyl Transferase Activity
Published on: October 8, 2018
tRNA fragments in human health and disease
1Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Transfer RNA (tRNA) is traditionally considered to be an adaptor molecule that helps ribosomes to decode messenger RNA (mRNA) and synthesize protein. Recent studies have demonstrated that tRNAs also serve as a major source of small non-coding RNAs that possess distinct and varied functions. These tRNA fragments are heterogeneous in size, nucleotide composition, biogenesis and function. Here we describe multiple roles that tRNA fragments play in cell physiology and discuss their relevance to human health and disease.
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