Deciphering tRNA repertoires and translation coordination during mouse early embryogenesis by ORACLE-tRNAseq
Translational control is vital during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), yet the landscape of embryonic transfer RNA (tRNA) pools has been difficult to explore. Here, we develop Optimized Reaction for Accurate Capture of Low-input Entities tRNA Sequencing (ORACLE-tRNAseq), enabling robust tRNA profiling from as few as five mouse oocytes. We map tRNA landscapes from oocyte to blastocyst, identifying a distinct transition to embryonic tRNA repertoires and upregulation of tRNA pseudogenes at the 4-cell stage. Integrated multi-omics analyses reveal that zygotic tRNA gene activation coincides with zygotic genome activation (ZGA) and correlates with H3K4me3 establishment and chromatin remodeling. By coupling ORACLE-tRNAseq with Ribo-seq, we demonstrate that embryonic tRNA anticodon pools coordinate with high translation-efficiency gene pools to preferentially establish the zygotic translation machinery, particularly from major ZGA onwards. Collectively, these findings provide a resource for understanding translational regulatory networks during early embryogenesis.
Authors
- You Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9779-0309)
- Ze Shu
- Xiao‐Ou Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2027-1313)
- Zongyu Yu
- Hui Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9198-3951)
- Haoquan Yu
- Yunfang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9529-0431)
- Xin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2845-8510)
- Zheng Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0670-0484)
- Ruofan Huang
- Rushuang Yan
- Yun Li
- Wenlin Jiang
- Yawei Gao
Institutions
- Tongji University (CN)
- Wenzhou Medical University (CN)
- Shanghai East Hospital (CN)
- Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-04-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72603-5
- Primary Topic
- RNA modifications and cancer
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00