LAUSR

For a very long time, RNA molecules were treated as transistory molecules, by which the genetic information flows from DNA to proteins; the model proposed in the 1960s accepted that proteins are both, the products and the regulators of gene expression. Since then, thousands of reports proved that RNAs should be thought-about as the factors which do control gene expression. The pervasive transcription has been reported in many eukaryotic organisms, illustrating a highly interwoven transcriptome organization that includes hundreds of previously unknown noncoding RNAs. The key roles of noncoding RNAs (miRNAs and siRNAs) in gene expression regulation are no longer surprising, as are new classes of noncoding RNAs constantly being discovered. tRNAs are the second most abundant type of RNAs in the cell. Advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies exposed the existence of functional, regulatory tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs), generated from precursor and mature tRNAs. These tRF molecules have been found to play central roles during stress and different pathological conditions. Herein, we present the critical assessment of the discoveries made in the field of tRNA-derived fragments in the past 15 years in various pathogenic and non-pathogenic yeast species. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.