Sponsor
This project was supported in part by NIH grants AI133023 and DE028409 to R.R. T.J.N. was supported by NIH grant AI130055 and by a faculty development award from the Sunlin and Priscilla Chou Foundation
Published In
Microbiology (reading, England)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2021
Abstract
Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression; however, the impact of natural mutations on sRNA functions has not been studied extensively. Here we show that the sRNA MgrR contains a unique 53 bp insertion in Escherichia fergusonii, a close relative of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. The insertion is a repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) sequence that could block transcription, but full-length MgrR is produced in E. fergusonii, showing that the insertion has not affected sRNA production. Additionally, despite containing the large insertion, the sRNA appears to be functional because deletion of mgrR made E. fergusonii more susceptible to H2O2. The molecular details of MgrR's roles in H2O2 defence are yet to be defined, but our results suggest that having an alternative function allowed the sRNA to be retained in E. fergusonii despite it sustaining a large, potentially disruptive mutation.
Rights
© 2021 The Authors
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DOI
10.1099/mic.0.001099
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36632
Citation Details
Wright, A. P., Dutcher, H. A., Butler, B., Nice, T. J., & Raghavan, R. (2021). A small RNA is functional in Escherichia fergusonii despite containing a large insertion. Microbiology, 167(10). https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001099
Description
Published by the Microbiology Society. Available here after an embargo period.