Nascent polypeptide chains or polypeptidyl-tRNAs (pep-tRNAs) occur transiently during protein synthesis. The potential to study these intermediates and better understand their role in processes like gene regulation has been greatly enhanced by the development of a process termed PETEOS—short for peptidyl-tRNA enrichment using organic extraction and silica adsorption. This method, developed by scientists at Tokyo Tech, allows for the large-scale harvesting, processing, and identification of pep-tRNA polypeptide moieties.
Advances in molecular biology have revealed that pep-tRNAs—nascent polypeptides inside the ribosome that are covalently attached to transfer RNA—are involved in a myriad of cell functions, including gene expression. All proteins exist as pep-tRNAs at some point and studying these translation intermediates is vital as they possess properties of both RNA and protein and can help researchers better understand the specifics of translation. Depending on stimuli and/or stresses, translational regulation is very rapid and spans initiation, elongation, and elongation pausing. Garnering deeper insights into the process of translation therefore requires a suitable method to process pep-tRNAs in large quantities. These nuances have fueled the development of molecular tools to investigate cellular translation.