Role of trna modifications in the synthesis of the extracellular matrix

Resumen

ABSTRACT Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are key adaptor molecules that mediate decoding of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) into proteins by complementary pairing of their anticodons with mRNA codons. tRNAs that undergo adenosine to inosine editing at the wobble base, or position 34, display expanded codon decoding capacity as inosine enables pairing not only with uridine, but also with cytosine and adenosine. The essential heterodimeric enzyme Adenosine Deaminase Acting on Transfer RNA (ADAT) catalyzes this post-transcriptional modification in eukaryotes and is comprised of subunits ADAT2 and ADAT3. Emergence of heterodimeric ADAT has been proposed to have shaped both tRNA gene content and codon composition of eukaryotic genomes in such a way that these two features became mirrored. Although the exact contribution of wobble inosine (I34) to translation elongation has not been established, previous reports have suggested that it might play a role in improving translational efficiency and accuracy of genes enriched in codons recognized by I34-modified tRNAs. To further understand the role of the inosine modification in translation, we generated cell lines depleted in the catalytic subunit ADAT2. Silencing of ADAT2 lead to impaired cellular proliferation and had a variable impact on the expression of genes coding for extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as mucins. Notably, ADAT2 deficiency did not have major effects on the post-translational glycosylation of mucins, neither did it trigger the unfolded protein response. Supported by the absence of clear defects in decoding rates in ADAT2 depleted cells, as measured by ribosome profiling, our findings suggest that a reduced pool of I34-modified tRNAs might suffice to carry out cellular functions in steady-state conditions. However, we found that, under circumstances involving a high demand for these tRNAs such as airway remodeling, ADAT2 is required for the proper translation of an ECM gene enriched in stretches of codons read by I34-tRNAs. Taken together, our results suggest that the inosine modification is particularly relevant for the synthesis of ECM proteins during specialized processes including neural development and airway remodeling. The importance of the inosine modification has been recently underscored by the identification of pathogenic mutations in the gene encoding ADAT3, all of which share common neurodevelopmental phenotypes. The most prevalent mutation identified to date is a valine to methionine (V144M) substitution that is linked to intellectual disability and strabismus. In the present study we characterized human ADAT in terms of activity and quaternary structure, and investigated the effect of the ADAT3 V144M mutation on the enzyme. We showed that the V144M substitution leads to decreased enzymatic activity of ADAT, which might result from alterations in the tertiary structure and subcellular localization of ADAT3 that were found to be associated to the mutation.