Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase, cytoplasmic is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the WARS gene.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases catalyze the aminoacylation of tRNA by their cognate amino acid. Because of their central role in linking amino acids with nucleotide triplets contained in tRNAs, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are thought to be among the first proteins that appeared in evolution. Two forms of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase exist, a cytoplasmic form, named WARS, and a mitochondrial form, named WARS2. Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (WARS) catalyzes the aminoacylation of tRNA(trp) with tryptophan and is induced by interferon. Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase belongs to the class I tRNA synthetase family. Four transcript variants encoding two different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq].
Function: Isoform 1, isoform 2 and T1-TrpRS have aminoacylation activity while T2-TrpRS lacks it. Isoform 2, T1-TrpRS and T2-TrpRS possess angiostatic activity whereas isoform 1 lacks it. T2-TrpRS inhibits fluid shear stress-activated responses of endothelial cells. Regulates ERK, Akt, and eNOS activation pathways that are associated with angiogenesis, cytoskeletal reorganization and shear stress-responsive gene expression.