Abstract
CHEMISTS AT Emory University have reprogrammed bacteria to seek and degrade the herbicide atrazine ( Nat. Chem. Biol. , DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.369). Such bacteria could prove useful for bioremediation of atrazine, which is toxic to animals and possibly humans as well. Justin P. Gallivan, Joy Sinha, and Samuel J. Reyes engineer Escherichia coli to produce RNA molecules called riboswitches that change conformation when they bind atrazine. The switching activates the translation of a protein called CheZ that allows the bacteria to move and chase atrazine in their surroundings. “The riboswitch acts like a molecular brake,” Gallivan says. “When you add atrazine, you release the brake and the cells can move.” The usual way to find riboswitches is to start with an RNA that tightly binds the target. “You can imagine some RNAs that might bind atrazine very well but be incapable of undergoing a conformational change that allows you to get a change in gene expression,” Gallivan says. ...
Published Version
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