Lost in translation: researchers discover translator gene may play a role in disease

A molecule called tRNA, or transfer ribonucleic acid, is an essential component of the human genome that acts as a translator. It reads the genetic code and translates it into proteins – one of the key building blocks of the human body. When researchers and clinicians investigate the genome’s relation to disease, they have traditionally focused on mutations in the code for proteins. But now researchers at Western University have shown that the genes encoding tRNAs can also have mutations that cause the code to be misread, and in greater numbers than previously thought.