RNA GENOMICS

These last years our research focussed on non-coding RNAs, beginning with transfer-ribonucleic acid, tRNA and then into microRNAs, miRNA. We began by developing an algorithm for identifying and annotating tRNAs, and found some key tRNAs absent in some genomes. There are many constraints on the secondary structures and splice-sites on tRNA introns. Consistent with all the known constraints, we found some of these missing tRNAs could be overlapped with others. That is, two tRNAs appearing from one tRNA gene through alternate splicing.
These concepts appeared in-

1. DNA Research 12, 235-246 (2005)

2. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 339, 37-40 (2006)

At this point a collaborative program to verify and validate this conjecture began. We began with the group of Prof. Uttam L. RajBhandary of MIT, USA. Part of the result of this collaboration has now appeared:
RNA 14, 1-10 (2008).
Investigation continues.

The experience with tRNAs got us stimulated into other non-coding RNAs, namely microRNAs. The impact of the RNA-revolution sweeping the research community around the world caught our imagination. Our initial work was on the miRNAs of Trypanosoma brucei. We found putative miRNA genes appearing in clusters over the genome, many of these modulating the Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSGs) involved in antigenic variations and hence trypanosomiasis. This work provides a clue towards the role of miRNA in antigenic variation to escape host immune response.
These work appeared in-

Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.372(3), 459-63(2008)

Nucleic Acids Res. (2008)[Advance Access]