Meta-Biol

• Pathways

GARS (cytosolic glycyl tRNA synthetase) catalyzes the reaction of glycine, tRNA(Gly), and ATP to form Gly tRNA(Gly), AMP, and pyrophosphate. The enzyme, a class II tRNA synthetase, is a dimer. Cytosolic and mitochondrial glycyl tRNA synthetase enzymes are both encoded by the same gene; the cytosolic protein lacks an aminoterminal 54 residue sequence found in the mitochondrial protein. Mutations in GARS are associated with Charcot Marie Tooth disease and distal spinal muscular atrophy, two diseases characterized by axonal dysfunction (Antonellis et al. 2006)