Bacterial translation is the process by which messenger RNA is translated into proteins in bacteria.
The trp operon is a group of genes that are transcribed together, encoding the enzymes that produce the amino acid tryptophan in bacteria. The trp operon was first characterized in Escherichia coli, and it has since been discovered in many other bacteria. The operon is regulated so that, when tryptophan is present in the environment, the genes for tryptophan synthesis are repressed.
The gene rpoS encodes the sigma factor sigma-38, a 37.8 kD protein in Escherichia coli. Sigma factors are proteins that regulate transcription in bacteria. Sigma factors can be activated in response to different environmental conditions. rpoS is transcribed in late exponential phase, and RpoS is the primary regulator of stationary phase genes. RpoS is a central regulator of the general stress response and operates in both a retroactive and a proactive manner: it not only allows the cell to survive environmental challenges, but it also prepares the cell for subsequent stresses (cross-protection). The transcriptional regulator CsgD is central to biofilm formation, controlling the expression of the curli structural and export proteins, and the diguanylate cyclase, adrA, which indirectly activates cellulose production. The rpoS gene most likely originated in the gammaproteobacteria.
fis is an E. coli gene encoding the Fis protein. The regulation of this gene is more complex than most other genes in the E. coli genome, as Fis is an important protein which regulates expression of other genes. It is supposed that fis is regulated by H-NS, IHF and CRP. It also regulates its own expression (autoregulation). Fis is one of the most abundant DNA binding proteins in Escherichia coli under nutrient-rich growth conditions.
The OmrA-B RNA gene family is a pair of homologous OmpR-regulated small non-coding RNA that was discovered in E. coli during two large-scale screens. OmrA-B is highly abundant in stationary phase, but low levels could be detected in exponentially growing cells as well. RygB is adjacent to RygA a closely related RNA. These RNAs bind to the Hfq protein and regulate gene expression by antisense binding. They negatively regulate the expression of several genes encoding outer membrane proteins, including cirA, CsgD, fecA, fepA and ompT by binding in the vicinity of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, suggesting the control of these targets is dependent on Hfq protein and RNase E. Taken together, these data suggest that OmrA-B participates in the regulation of outer membrane composition, responding to environmental conditions.
Sib RNA refers to a group of related non-coding RNA. They were originally named QUAD RNA after they were discovered as four repeat elements in Escherichia coli intergenic regions. The family was later renamed Sib when it was discovered that the number of repeats is variable in other species and in other E. coli strains.
The RprA RNA gene encodes a 106 nucleotide regulatory non-coding RNA. Translational regulation of the stationary phase sigma factor RpoS is mediated by the formation of a double-stranded RNA stem-loop structure in the upstream region of the rpoS messenger RNA, occluding the translation initiation site.
RyhB RNA is a 90 nucleotide RNA that down-regulates a set of iron-storage and iron-using proteins when iron is limiting; it is itself negatively regulated by the ferric uptake repressor protein, Fur.
Spot 42 (spf) RNA is a regulatory non-coding bacterial small RNA encoded by the spf gene. Spf is found in gammaproteobacteria and the majority of experimental work on Spot42 has been performed in Escherichia coli and recently in Aliivibrio salmonicida. In the cell Spot42 plays essential roles as a regulator in carbohydrate metabolism and uptake, and its expression is activated by glucose, and inhibited by the cAMP-CRP complex.
The MicA RNA is a small non-coding RNA that was discovered in E. coli during a large scale screen. Expression of SraD is highly abundant in stationary phase, but low levels could be detected in exponentially growing cells as well.
In molecular biology the ArcZ RNA is a small non-coding RNA (ncRNA). It is the functional product of a gene which is not translated into protein. ArcZ is an Hfq binding RNA that functions as an antisense regulator of a number of protein coding genes.
GlmZ is a small non-coding RNA (ncRNA). It is the functional product of a gene which is not translated into protein.
The sroB RNA is a non-coding RNA gene of 90 nucleotides in length. sroB is found in several Enterobacterial species but its function is unknown. SroB is found in the intergenic region on the opposite strand to the ybaK and ybaP genes. SroB is expressed in stationary phase. Experiments have shown that SroB is a Hfq binding sRNA.
The GlmY RNA family consists of a number of bacterial RNA genes of around 167 bases in length. The GlmY RNA gene is present in Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Yersinia pestis and Salmonella species, where it is found between the yfhK and purL genes. It was originally predicted in a bioinformatic screen for novel ncRNAs in E. coli.
The Hfq protein encoded by the hfq gene was discovered in 1968 as an Escherichia coli host factor that was essential for replication of the bacteriophage Qβ. It is now clear that Hfq is an abundant bacterial RNA binding protein which has many important physiological roles that are usually mediated by interacting with Hfq binding sRNA.
The hok/sok system is a postsegregational killing mechanism employed by the R1 plasmid in Escherichia coli. It was the first type I toxin-antitoxin pair to be identified through characterisation of a plasmid-stabilising locus. It is a type I system because the toxin is neutralised by a complementary RNA, rather than a partnered protein.
Bacterial small RNAs (bsRNA) are small RNAs produced by bacteria; they are 50- to 500-nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules, highly structured and containing several stem-loops. Numerous sRNAs have been identified using both computational analysis and laboratory-based techniques such as Northern blotting, microarrays and RNA-Seq in a number of bacterial species including Escherichia coli, the model pathogen Salmonella, the nitrogen-fixing alphaproteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, marine cyanobacteria, Francisella tularensis, Streptococcus pyogenes, the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, and the plant pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae. Bacterial sRNAs affect how genes are expressed within bacterial cells via interaction with mRNA or protein, and thus can affect a variety of bacterial functions like metabolism, virulence, environmental stress response, and structure.
FnrS RNA is a family of Hfq-binding small RNA whose expression is upregulated in response to anaerobic conditions. It is named FnrS because its expression is strongly dependent on fumarate and nitrate reductase regulator (FNR), a direct oxygen availability sensor.
The TisB-IstR toxin-antitoxin system is the first known toxin-antitoxin system which is induced by the SOS response in response to DNA damage.
RdlD RNA is a family of small non-coding RNAs which repress the protein LdrD in a type I toxin-antitoxin system. It was discovered in Escherichia coli strain K-12 in a long direct repeat (LDR) named LDR-D. This locus encodes two products: a 35 amino acid peptide toxin (ldrD) and a 60 nucleotide RNA antitoxin. The 374nt toxin mRNA has a half-life of around 30 minutes while rdlD RNA has a half-life of only 2 minutes. This is in keeping with other type I toxin-antitoxin systems.
