tRNAs in cell death

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is one of the three major biological molecules (along with DNA and proteins) that are essential for the function of cells. tRNAs (transfer RNA) play a very important role in protein synthesis. In 2010, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania discovered an alternative function for tRNAs in apoptosis (the process of programmed cell death). They demonstrated that tRNAs directly bind to the protein cytochrome c and inhibit cytochrome c-initiated apoptosome formation, which initiates apoptosis. The image here depicts tRNA, the orange and blue in the center, interferring with the formation of the apoptosome, the yellow heptamer, by binding to cytochrome c, the red blobs. This discovery was made by Dr. Yide Mei, Dr. Jeongsik Yong, Dr. Xiaolu Yang, et al.