Esteban Orellana Vinueza
Dartmouth College, NH·Biochemistry
Every protein a cell makes depends on transfer RNA (tRNA), small RNA molecules that bring amino acids to the ribosome, the cell's protein-building machine. Each tRNA has a three-letter anticodon that decides which amino acid it carries.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Biophysics
- Topics
transfer RNA
tRNA
RNA modifications
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Determine how chemical modifications alter the structure, dynamics and folding or misfolding of tRNA isodecoders, tRNAs that share an anticodon but differ elsewhere, using spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations.
- Measure how modifications in tRNA isodecoders affect protein production, using CRISPR gene editing, translation assays and proteomics.
- Develop protocols that compute RNA circular dichroism spectra from sets of shapes generated by atom-level simulations, and calculate the thermodynamic effects of tRNA modifications.
More about the research
tRNAs that share an anticodon but differ elsewhere in their sequence are called isodecoders. Cells chemically modify the building blocks of these isodecoders in ways that change with the environment, the stage of development and the cell type. This project asks how these chemical modifications change the shape, movement and folding of tRNA isodecoders, including how they misfold, and what that means for protein production.
Why it matters
Understanding how chemical modifications reshape tRNA isodecoders adds basic knowledge about how cells fine-tune protein production. According to the project, it could point to tRNAs as potential therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers. The new methods for linking simulations to spectroscopy could also help other researchers studying RNA.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jeffery Coller
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Biochemistry
Determine how the mRNA degradation complex senses ribosome speed as it changes with codon optimality.
Jia Sheng
University at Albany, NY·Chemistry
Synthesize azobenzene-based photoswitchable nucleosides, which change shape under different wavelengths of light, insert them into RNA strands, and characterize base-pairing stability and structure using X-ray crystallography and computational modeling.
Craig Martin
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biochemistry
Develop an enzyme-based fluidics system using co-immobilized flow transcription to incorporate multiple, different modified bases at chosen positions in RNA too long for chemical synthesis.
The school
Dartmouth College: 16 labs on PI Pages, $418M a year on research, 104 research doctorates a year.
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