Translation of mRNA is a highly regulated process that is tightly coordinated with cotranslational protein maturation. Recently, mRNA modifications and tRNA modifications - the so called epitranscriptome - have added a new layer of regulation that is still poorly understood. Both types of modifications can affect codon-anticodon interactions, thereby affecting mRNA translation and protein synthesis in similar ways. Here, we describe an updated view on how the different types of modifications can be mapped, how they affect translation, how they trigger phenotypes and discuss how the combined action of mRNA and tRNA modifications coordinate translation in health and disease.
Keywords: RNA modification; RNA sequencing; disease; epitranscriptome; post-transcriptional modifications; ribosome; translation.
© 2019 The Authors. FEBS Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.