Abstract
3′ untranslated regions (3′ UTRs) and particularly long 3′ UTRs have been shown to act as a new class of post-transcriptional regulatory element. We previously reported that hmsT mRNA stability is negatively regulated by the 3′ UTR of hmsT in Yersinia pestis. To investigate more general effects of 3′ UTRs in Y. pestis, we selected 15 genes potentially possessing long 3′ UTRs with different AU content and constructed their 3′ UTR deletion mutants. Deletion of AU-rich 3′ UTRs increased mRNA levels, whereas deletion of 3′ UTRs with normal AU content resulted in slight or no changes in the mRNA level. In addition, we found that PNPase was important for 3′ UTR-mediated mRNA decay when the transcriptional terminator was Rho-dependent. Finally, we showed that ribosomes promote mRNA stability when bound to a 3′ UTR. Our findings suggest that functional 3′ UTRs might be broadly distributed in bacteria and their novel regulatory mechanisms require further investigation.
Highlights
To adapt to changes in the environment, an intricate regulatory network that accurately modulates gene expression has evolved in bacteria
Degradation of mRNA is dependent on a rate-determining initial step in bacteria (Kushner, 2002; Bechhofer, 2009). mRNA is initially degraded by endonucleolytic enzymes
We identified additional functional 3 untranslated regions (3 untranslated regions (UTRs)) by focusing on long 3 UTRs and found that among 3 UTRs, those with long AU-rich regions are probably more important for mRNA expression regulation
Summary
To adapt to changes in the environment, an intricate regulatory network that accurately modulates gene expression has evolved in bacteria. Gene expression in bacteria is primarily regulated at the transcriptional level. Unlike transcriptional regulation, post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression allows bacteria to adjust rapidly to the changing environment. One way in which post-transcriptional regulation is achieved is via changes in mRNA stability (Laalami et al, 2014). 5 and 3 untranslated regions (UTRs) contain many elements that assist in the regulation of gene expression (Pesole et al, 2001). Transcriptional terminators rarely exceed a size of 40–50 nucleotides; 3 UTRs of greater length (>100 nt) have been hypothesized to contain other regulatory elements (Ruiz de los Mozos et al, 2013).
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