Mars, Ruben A. T., Mendonça, Karoline, Denham, Emma and van Dijl, Jan Maarten (2015) The reduction in small ribosomal subunit abundance in ethanol-stressed cells of Bacillus subtilis is mediated by a SigB-dependent antisense RNA. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, 1853 (10). pp. 2553-2559. doi:10.1016/j.bbamcr.2015.06.009

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Abstract

One of the best-characterized general stress responses in bacteria is the σB-mediated stress response of the Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The σB regulon contains approximately 200 protein-encoding genes and 136 putative regulatory RNAs. One of these σB-dependent RNAs, named S1136–S1134, was recently mapped as being transcribed from the S1136 promoter on the opposite strand of the essential rpsD gene, which encodes the ribosomal primary-binding protein S4. Accordingly, S1136–S1134 transcription results in an rpsD-overlapping antisense RNA (asRNA). Upon exposure of B. subtilis to ethanol, the S1136 promoter was found to be induced, while rpsD transcription was downregulated. By quantitative PCR, we show that the activation of transcription from the S1136 promoter is directly responsible for the downregulation of rpsD upon ethanol exposure. We also show that this downregulation of rpsD leads to a reduced level of the small (30S) ribosomal subunit upon ethanol stress. The activation of the S1136 promoter thus represents the first example of antisense transcription-mediated regulation in the general stress response of B. subtilis and implicates the reduction of ribosomal protein abundance as a new aspect in the σB-dependent stress response. We propose that the observed reduction in the level of the small ribosomal subunit, which contains the ribosome-decoding center, may protect B. subtilis cells against misreading and spurious translation of possibly toxic aberrant peptides under conditions of ethanol stress.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QR Microbiology
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Microbiology & Infection Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Journal or Publication Title:	Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0167-4889
Official Date:	October 2015
Dates:	Date Event October 2015 Published 24 June 2015 Available 23 June 2015 Accepted 2 April 2015 Submitted
Volume:	1853
Number:	10
Page Range:	pp. 2553-2559
DOI:	10.1016/j.bbamcr.2015.06.009
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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