Translation articles from across Nature Portfolio

A matching pseudouridine in premature termination codons and in the anticodons of cognate tRNAs promotes ribosome readthrough and avoids nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

ALKBH8 is a tRNA methyltransferase, specifically modifying the wobble uridine (U34) in tRNAs. Here, the authors discover that ALKBH8 is a direct transcriptional target of β-catenin, and that mediates intestinal tumorigenesis through regulation of the translation of KRAS in a codon-dependent manner.

This Review discusses the effects of three age-associated stressors—loss of proteostasis, oxidative damage and dysregulated nutrient sensing—on global protein synthesis and highlights how altered translation is used by the cell as a stress sensor.

Capture of small scanning ribosomal subunits and 80S ribosomes in mammalian brain tissues using ribosome complex profiling provides insights into translation initiation and the role of scanning in regulating cell–and transcript-specific translation.

Zhang, Lahry, Cipurko et al. show that the microbial metabolites queuine and preQ₁ modify the same host tRNA. PreQ₁-tRNA reduces cell proliferation, slows tumour growth, decreases the translation of ribosomal proteins and is cleaved by IRE1 on the ER ribosome.

Designer box H/ACA RNA-guided pseudouridylation can target both mRNA and tRNA. Modifying the first U of a stop codon and U36 of the matching anticodon forms one Ψ–Ψ and two Watson–Crick pairs, enabling efficient and specific stop codon readthrough.

Ribosomes build proteins by reading genetic codes, which must be done accurately to avoid harmful products. Here authors use simulations to show that human ribosomes have evolved so that tRNA accommodation corridor is crowded, which limits tRNA movement and boosts translation accuracy.

A matching pseudouridine in premature termination codons and in the anticodons of cognate tRNAs promotes ribosome readthrough and avoids nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.

During early brain development, proper cell fate acquisition requires time-sensitive control of gene expression. New work shows that AIRIM variants disrupt cell fate by altering ribosome abundance and the translation of specific mRNAs. The findings pinpoint regulated ribogenesis as a key factor in early human brain development.

tRNA modifications are key regulators of translational reprogramming, although their role in colorectal cancer (CRC) is poorly understood. We show an oncogenic role for TRMT6 in CRC, revealing that TRMT6-mediated tRNA m¹A modification functions as a critical translational checkpoint that is essential for rapid histone synthesis in CRC cells.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Abdallah (Gilbert lab) describes the development of direct analysis of ribosome targeting (DART), a tool designed to explore 5' UTR sequences for their potential to efficiently initiate translation.