Fig. 3

Characterization of tRNA fragments. a Proportion of species with a retained 5′ or 3′ end of the parental RNA or those cut from both ends. b Number of RNA species generated by cleavage within a single-stranded or double-stranded region of the parental RNA. c Distribution of cleavage regions within particular structural elements of mature full-length tRNA cut from one end. d Distribution of cleavage regions within particular structural elements of mature full-length tRNA cut from both ends. AA – acceptor arm, D – D arm, A – anticodon arm, T – T arm, V region – variable region. See Additional file 1: Figure S4 for a schematic representation of the mature tRNA structure