Extracellular tRNA synthetase biology represents a novel set of potential physiological modulators and therapeutic targets.
tRNA synthetases were originally thought to only play a role in protein synthesis by catalyzing the aminoacylation of tRNAs to their respective amino acids. aTyr’s founder and board member, Paul Schimmel, Ph.D., along with colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute, discovered that a protein derived from one tRNA synthetase gene could act as an extracellular modulator of angiogenesis. Recent research developments have further reinforced the idea that tRNA synthetases may more broadly play important roles in cellular responses to certain disease states, in particular, cellular stress, and tissue homeostasis.
aTyr has built and intellectual property portfolio covering >300 protein compositions derived from all 20 tRNA synthetase genes, and is engaged in the discovery and development of potential first-in-class medicines based on newly discovered pathways effected by extracellular tRNA synthetases.
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