Nanopore sequencing of intact aminoacylated tRNAs
White LK, Radakovic A, Sajek MP, Dobson K, Riemondy KA, del Pozo S, Szostak JW, Hesselberth JR.Nature Communications 16, 7781 (2025). Open access.
The supply chain behind every protein.
Every protein draws on a supply of charged tRNAs: the molecules that carry amino acids to the ribosome. Production moves only as fast as the right ones arrive.
We keep the signal other methods throw away.
A charged tRNA carries its amino acid; an empty one doesn't. That amino acid — what the tRNA adds to a growing protein — is easily lost: it falls off on its own, or standard prep strips it away. Our chemistry holds it in place, so every tRNA is read individually by nanopore with its charge intact. One read gives us its sequence, its modifications, and the amino acid it carries.
Published and patent-pending.
Now validated from microbial to mammalian systems.