Functional genomics of 5''-tsRNA-Asp overexpression and serum-deprivation in Drosophila S2 cells

tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) are an emerging class of small RNAs that are highly abundant in the transcriptome. Here, we combined functional genomics approaches to characterize tsRNAs and their regulation in Drosophila. We transfected S2 cells with molecular mimics of two tsRNAs, both derived from the 5’ end of endogenous Drosophila tRNA-Asp (5’-tsRNA-Asp). We investigated the regulatory impact of these molecules on the transcriptome and translatome by combining small RNA-Seq, poly(A) + mRNA-Seq, degradome-Seq and ribosome profiling (ribo-Seq) approaches. Furthermore, the comparison of small RNA-Seq, poly(A) + mRNA-Seq, and ribosome profiling (ribo-Seq) datasets under serum and serum-free conditions revealed that tsRNAs might act as messengers to coordinate the general translation machinery.