Bacterial tRNA Modification Enzymes: Potential Role in Biology and Virulence

Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 1000e105 Biol Med ISSN: 0974-8369 BLM, an open access journal RNA molecules contain four standard nucleosides, adenosine (A), guanosine (G), cytidine (C), and uridine (U). Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are present in many types of RNAs including ribosomal RNA (rRNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and others. These RNA modifications are important for altering the chemical and physical properties of nucleotides resulting in increased efficiency of RNA functions. Of all the RNAs, tRNA exhibits the largest number and most diverse modifications with cells from all kingdoms of life allocating a large portion of their genome to encoding enzymes involved in the post-transcriptional modification of nucleosides in tRNA [1]. Post-transcriptional modification of the anticodon domain in tRNA is a major factor in controlling gene expression which enables bacteria to survive in many different environments [2]. Modifications of uridine at the wobble position of the anticodon (U34) are required for the recognition of codons that are rarely used. In the absence of modifications, a shift in the translational reading frame occurs resulting in the expression of alternate protein sequences [2].