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Volume 163, Issue 7

Post-transcriptional regulation of target genes by the sRNA FnrS in Free

Abstract

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are well-established post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression in bacteria that respond to a variety of environmental stimuli. They usually act by base-pairing with their target mRNAs, which is commonly facilitated by the RNA chaperone Hfq. In this study we initiated the analysis of the sRNA FnrS of , which is induced under anaerobic conditions. We identified four putative FnrS target genes using bioinformatics approaches and validated these target genes using translational reporter gene fusions in both and , thereby demonstrating their downregulation by direct base-pairing between the respective mRNA and FnrS. We demonstrate deregulation of target mRNAs upon deletion of and provide evidence that the gene cluster required for iron–sulfur cluster biosynthesis, which harbours which is a direct target of FnrS, is coordinately downregulated by the sRNA. By mutational analysis we show that, surprisingly, three distinct regions of FnrS are employed for interaction with different target genes.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): FnrS , Neisseria gonorrhoeae , post-transcriptional regulation and sRNA
© 2017 The Authors
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2017-07-01
2024-04-18
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Post-transcriptional regulation of target genes by the sRNA FnrS in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Microbiology 163, 1081 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000484
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000484
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000484
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