The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) ligate amino acids to their cognate tRNAs, allowing them to decode the triplet code during translation. Through different mechanisms aaRSs also perform several non-canonical functions in transcription, translation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and inflammation. <i>Drosophila</i> has become a preferred system to model human diseases caused by mutations in <i>aaRS</i> genes, to dissect effects of reduced translation or non-canonical activities, and to study aminoacylation and translational fidelity. However, the lack of a systematic annotation of this gene family has hampered such studies. Here, we report the identification of the entire set of <i>aaRS</i> genes in the fly genome and we predict their roles based on experimental evidence and/or orthology. Further, we propose a new, systematic and logical nomenclature for aaRSs. We also review the research conducted on <i>Drosophila</i> aaRSs to date. Together, our work provides the foundation for further research in the fly aaRS field.

氨酰-tRNA合成酶（Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases，aaRSs）能够将氨基酸连接至对应的转运RNA（tRNA），使其可在翻译过程中解码三联体密码子。通过不同的作用机制，这类酶还可在转录、翻译、细胞凋亡、血管生成及炎症反应中发挥多种非经典功能。果蝇（Drosophila）已成为研究由aaRS基因突变引发的人类疾病、剖析翻译水平降低或非经典活性所产生的效应，以及探究氨酰化与翻译保真性的首选模型系统。然而，该基因家族缺乏系统性注释，阻碍了相关研究的开展。本研究鉴定了果蝇基因组中的全套aaRS基因，并基于实验证据和/或直系同源关系预测了这些基因的功能；此外，还为aaRSs提出了一套全新的系统性逻辑命名规则。同时，本文综述了迄今为止针对果蝇aaRSs的相关研究进展。综上，本研究为果蝇aaRS领域的后续研究奠定了重要基础。