Use of tRNA-Mediated Suppression to Assess RNA Chaperone Function.

La proteins have well-established roles in the maturation of RNA polymerase III transcripts, including pre-tRNAs. In addition to protecting the 3' end of pre-tRNAs from exoribonuclease digestion, La proteins also promote the native fold of the pre-tRNA using RNA chaperone activity. tRNA-mediated suppression in the fission yeast S. pombe has been an invaluable tool in determining the mechanistic basis by which La proteins promote the maturation of defective pre-tRNAs that benefit from RNA chaperone activity. More recently, tRNA-mediated suppression has been adapted to test for RNA chaperone function in La-related proteins and tRNA modification enzymes. Thus, tRNA-mediated suppression can be a useful assay for the investigation of various proteins hypothesized to promote tRNA folding through RNA chaperone-related activities.