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Small regulatory RNA-induced growth rate heterogeneity of Bacillus subtilis
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Mars, Ruben A. T., Nicolas, Pierre, Ciccolini, Mariano, Reilman, Ewoud, Reder, Alexander, Schaffer, Marc, Mäder, Ulrike, Völker, Uwe, Dijl, Jan Maarten van and Denham, Emma (2015) Small regulatory RNA-induced growth rate heterogeneity of Bacillus subtilis. PLoS Genetics, Volume 11 (Number 3). pp. 1-27. Article number e1005046. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005046 ISSN 1553-7390.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005046
Abstract
Isogenic bacterial populations can consist of cells displaying heterogeneous physiological traits. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) could affect this heterogeneity since they act by fine-tuning mRNA or protein levels to coordinate the appropriate cellular behavior. Here we show that the sRNA RnaC/S1022 from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis can suppress exponential growth by modulation of the transcriptional regulator AbrB. Specifically, the post-transcriptional abrB-RnaC/S1022 interaction allows B. subtilis to increase the cell-to-cell variation in AbrB protein levels, despite strong negative autoregulation of the abrB promoter. This behavior is consistent with existing mathematical models of sRNA action, thus suggesting that induction of protein expression noise could be a new general aspect of sRNA regulation. Importantly, we show that the sRNA-induced diversity in AbrB levels generates heterogeneity in growth rates during the exponential growth phase. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the resulting subpopulations of fast- and slow-growing B. subtilis cells reflect a bet-hedging strategy for enhanced survival of unfavorable conditions.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QR Microbiology | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Microbiology & Infection Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Bacillus subtilis -- Genetics, Bacillus subtilis -- Variation, RNA editing | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | PLoS Genetics | ||||||||
Publisher: | Public Library of Science | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1553-7390 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 19 March 2015 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 11 | ||||||||
Number: | Number 3 | ||||||||
Number of Pages: | 27 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1-27 | ||||||||
Article Number: | Article number e1005046 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005046 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 29 December 2015 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 29 December 2015 | ||||||||
Funder: | Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen [University of Groningen], European Commission (EC), Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research] (NWO) | ||||||||
Grant number: | LSHG-CT-2006-037469, 244093 (EC) |
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