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Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society (BKCS)

ISSN 0253-2964(Print)
ISSN 1229-5949(Online)
Volume 29, Number 6
BKCSDE 29(6)
June 20, 2008 

 
Title
RNase P-dependent Cleavage of Polycistronic mRNAs within
Their Downstream Coding Regions in Escherichia coli
Author
Jungmin Lee, Yool Kim, Soon Kang Hong, Younghoon Lee*
Keywords
C5 protein, M1 RNA, Microarray, Polycistronic mRNA, RNase P
Abstract
M1 RNA, the catalytic subunit of Escherichia coli RNase P, is an essential ribozyme that processes the 5' leader sequence of tRNA precursors (ptRNAs). Using KS2003, an E. coli strain generating only low levels of M1 RNA, which showed growth defects, we examined whether M1 RNA is involved in polycistronic mRNA processing or degradation. Microarray analysis of total RNA from KS2003 revealed six polycistronic operon mRNAs (acpP-fabF, cysDNC, flgAMN, lepAB, phoPQ, and puuCBE) showing large differences in expression between the adjacent genes in the same mRNA transcript compared with the KS2001 wild type strain. Model substrates spanning an adjacent pair of genes for each polycistronic mRNA were tested for RNase P cleavage in vitro. Five model RNAs (cysNC, flgMN, lepAB, phoPQ, and puuBE) were cleaved by RNase P holoenzyme but not by M1 RNA alone. However, the cleavages occurred at non-ptRNA-like cleavage sites, with much less efficiency than the cleavage of ptRNA. Since cleavage products generated by RNase P from a polycistronic mRNA can have different in vivo stabilities, our results suggest that RNase P cleavage may lead to differential expression of each cistron.
Page
1137 - 1140
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