Mammalian Queuosine tRNA Modification Impacts Translation to Enhance Cell Proliferation and MHC-II Expression

Queuosine (Q) is a conserved tRNA modification in the wobble anticodon position of tRNAs that read codons of Tyr/His/Asn/Asp. Eukaryotic tRNA Q-modification requires the metabolite queuine - derived from diet or catabolism of the gut microbiome - and a host-genome encoded enzyme complex, QTRT1/QTRT2. tRNA Q-modification has been shown to regulate translational efficiency, but the response of the mammalian transcriptome and tRNAome to tRNA Q-modification in the context of cell proliferation has not been thoroughly investigated. Using cells that differ only in their tRNA Q-modification levels, we found that both human HEK293T cultures and the primary, murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) proliferate faster when tRNA Q-modification level is high. We carried out tRNA-seq and mRNA-seq to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotype, revealing distinct tRNA modification and transcriptome changes associated with altered proliferation. In both cell types, the m²₂G tRNA modification is positively correlated to Q-modification, consistent with its reported role in enhancing translational efficiency. We also find that elevated Q-modification levels result in transcriptome changes, but in a context-dependent manner. In HEK293T cells, upregulated genes are in catabolic processes and signaling pathway activation; whereas in BMDCs, upregulated genes are in immune response mediation, proliferation, and immunoglobulin diversification. Codon usage analysis of differentially expressed transcripts is consistent with Q-modification enhancing the translation of ribosomal proteins, which increases cell proliferation. We also find that tRNA Q-modification increases surface presentation of MHC-II in BMDCs. Our results provide insights into the broader implications of tRNA Q-modifications in regulating diverse biological functions.