《生命科学》 2012, 24(6): 502-510

谷氨酰-脯氨酰-tRNA合成酶的非经典功能 ——炎症相关基因特异性的翻译沉默

姚　鹏¹，王恩多^2*

(1 美国克里夫兰医学中心 Lerner 研究所，细胞生物学系，克里夫兰 44195；2 中国科学院上海生命科学研究院生物化学与细胞生物学研究所，分子生物学国家重点实验室，RNA研究中心，上海 200031)

摘　要：摘　要：氨基酰-tRNA 合成酶 (aaRS) 催化氨基酰化反应，为生物体内的蛋白质合成提供原料。哺乳动物细胞质中一种双功能aaRS谷氨酰-脯氨酰-tRNA合成酶 (EPRS) 通常负责将谷氨酸和脯氨酸分别接载到对应的tRNA的3{$39}末端参与蛋白质翻译；此外，它还具有与氨基酰化经典功能无关的单核／巨噬细胞特异性炎症相关基因翻译沉默的非经典功能。在过去的十五年间，对于 EPRS 参与炎症反应相关基因表达调控的功能研究取得了一系列重要进展，揭示了看家基因 EPRS 与人类疾病发生和发展的潜在联系。
关键词：谷氨酰-脯氨酰-tRNA 合成酶；非经典功能；翻译沉默；炎症

Noncanonical function of glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase —inflammatory gene-specific translational silencing

YAO Peng¹， WANG En-Duo^2*

(1 Department of Cell Biology， Lerner Research Institute， Cleveland Clinic， Cleveland 44195， USA; 2 Center for RNA Research， State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology， Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology， Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Shanghai 200031， China)

Abstract: Abstract: Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) catalyze aminoacylation of their cognate tRNAs for protein biosynthesis. Mammalian cytosolic dual-functional enzyme glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (EPRS) is generally responsible for charging the amino acids Glu and Pro to the 3{$39}-end of their cognate tRNAs for initiation of protein translation; the enzyme EPRS also possesses noncanonical function as monocyte/macrophage-specific translational silencing of inflammatory gene expression beyond the canonical aminoacylation function. During the past 15 years， important progresses have been made on functional research about EPRS-directed regulation of inflammatory gene expression， revealing potential relation between the “house-keeping” enzyme EPRS and the development of human diseases.
Key words: glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase; noncanonical function; translational silencing; inflammation