Mammalian aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: cell signaling functions of the protein translation machinery

Abstract

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are enzymes that join amino acids to tRNAs. Although they are housekeeping enzymes essential for protein synthesis, aaRSs are now known to participate in a wide variety of functions, including transcription, translation, splicing, inflammation, angiogenesis and apoptosis. In eukaryotes, the functional expansion of aaRSs is closely linked to evolutionary advantages conferred by recruitment into protein complexes as well as various structural adaptations. The elucidation and understanding of the diverse functions of aaRSs is a major goal of current and future research. These investigations will undoubtedly provide some of the most fundamental understanding of how and possibly why synthetases became so tightly involved in such a vast array of cell signaling pathways.