ArticlePLoS biology2014
A nutrient-driven tRNA modification alters translational fidelity and genome-wide protein coding across an animal genus.
Article in PLoS biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 95 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synonymous but Not Silent: The Codon Usage Code for Gene Expression and Protein Folding.Annual review of biochemistry · 2021Pooled it
- Dietary effects on cytosolic and mitochondrial tRNA abundance and modification patterns across mouse tissues.Genome research · 2026Article
- Queuosine tRNA modification regulates translational adaptation and virulence of Leishmania mexicana.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- RiboScreenBiomedicines · 2026Review
- A transfer RNA inosine modification drives genome-wide synonymous recoding across human commensal bacterial families.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- EnterohemorrhagicmSystems · 2026Article
- Hidden Diversity in Yeast tRNAs: Comparative Genomics and Modification Mapping in a Eukaryotic Subphylum.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Tissue-specific role of dTrmO in threonine decoding during Drosophila melanogaster development.Biological research · 2026Article
- Metabolism-Driven Modulation by the Human Microbiota: Implications for Cancer Therapy and Emerging Strategies.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Sex-biased duplicates are rapidly generated duringbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Exploring Metalloproteome Remodeling in Calprotectin-StressedACS chemical biology · 2025Article
- Two microbiome metabolites compete for tRNA modification to impact mammalian cell proliferation and translation quality control.Nature cell biology · 2025Article
- tRNA expression and modifications as critical components in the biology of blood-feeding arthropods.Current opinion in insect science · 2025Review
- Exploring metalloproteome remodeling in calprotectin-stressedbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Mammalian Queuosine tRNA Modification Impacts Translation to Enhance Cell Proliferation and MHC-II Expression.Journal of molecular biology · 2025Article
- Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Key RNA-binding domains in the La protein establish tRNA modification levels in Trypanosoma brucei.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Dinucleotide preferences underlie apparent codon preference reversals in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Variation in the fitness impact of translationally optimal codons among animals.Genome research · 2025Article
- Genes and Pathways Comprising the Human and Mouse ORFeomes Display Distinct Codon Bias Signatures that Can Regulate Protein Levels.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Natural selection favors efficient expression of encoded proteins, but the causes, mechanisms, and fitness consequences of evolved coding changes remain an area of aggressive inquiry. We report a large-scale reversal in the relative translational accuracy of codons across 12 fly species in the Drosophila/Sophophora genus. Because the reversal involves pairs of codons that are read by the same genomically encoded tRNAs, we hypothesize, and show by direct measurement, that a tRNA anticodon modification from guanosine to queuosine has coevolved with these genomic changes. Queuosine modification is present in most organisms but its function remains unclear. Modification levels vary across developmental stages in D. melanogaster, and, consistent with a causal effect, genes maximally expressed at each stage display selection for codons that are most accurate given stage-specific queuosine modification levels. In a kinetic model, the known increased affinity of queuosine-modified tRNA for ribosomes increases the accuracy of cognate codons while reducing the accuracy of near-cognate codons. Levels of queuosine modification in D. melanogaster reflect bioavailability of the precursor queuine, which eukaryotes scavenge from the tRNAs of bacteria and absorb in the gut. These results reveal a strikingly direct mechanism by which recoding of entire genomes results from changes in utilization of a nutrient.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.