A tRNA-derived RNA Fragment Plays an Important Role in the Mechanism of Arsenite -induced Cellular Responses.

ABSTRACT: Chronic exposure to environmental heavy metals is a worldwide health concern. It is acknowledged to be an important cause of lower respiratory tract damage in children. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the heavy metal-induced cellular stress/toxicity are not completely understood. Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs), such as microRNAs (miRNA) and more recently identified tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs), are critical to the posttranscriptional control of genes. We used deep sequencing to investigate whether cellular sncRNA profiles are changed by environmental heavy metals. We found that the treatment of arsenite, an important groundwater heavy metal, leads to abundant production of tRFs, that are ~30 nucleotides (nts) long and most of which correspond to the 5'-end of mature tRNA

SUBMITTER: Liu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6237853 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature