Abstract

The mechanism, physiological relevance and evolutionary implication of selective RNA processing and stabilization (SRPS) remain elusive. Here we report the genome-wide maps of transcriptional start sites (TSs) and post-transcriptional processed sites (PSs) for Clostridium cellulolyticum. The PS-associated genes are preferably associated with subunits of heteromultimeric protein complexes, and the intergenic PSs (iPSs) are enriched in operons exhibiting highly skewed transcript-abundance landscape. Stem-loop structures associated with those iPSs located at 3′ termini of highly transcribed genes exhibit folding free energy negatively correlated with transcript-abundance ratio of flanking genes. In the cellulosome-encoding cip-cel operon, iPSs and stem-loops precisely regulate structure and abundance of the subunit-encoding transcripts processed from a primary polycistronic RNA, quantitatively specifying cellulosome stoichiometry. Moreover, cellulosome evolution is shaped by the number, position and biophysical nature of TSs, iPSs and stem-loops. Our findings unveil a genome-wide RNA-encoded strategy controlling in vivo stoichiometry of protein complexes.

Highlights

  • The mechanism, physiological relevance and evolutionary implication of selective RNA processing and stabilization (SRPS) remain elusive

  • To resolve the potential conflict between the equimolar stoichiometry of transcripts within an operon and the non-equimolar stoichiometry of subunits frequently necessitated, one strategy employed by the cell is selective RNA processing and stabilization (SRPS)[4], where the primary mRNA transcribed as an operon is processed by nucleases into segments first and variation in stability among the segments contribute to differential gene expression[4]

  • C. cellulolyticum ATCC 35319 genome harbours a large number of glycosylhydrolase genes, and its ‘Cellulose Degradome’ consists of a ‘core’ set of 48 CAZymes required for degrading cellulose-containing substrates and an ‘accessory’ set of 76 CAZymes required for specific noncellulose substrates[26]

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Summary

Introduction

The mechanism, physiological relevance and evolutionary implication of selective RNA processing and stabilization (SRPS) remain elusive. In the cellulosomeencoding cip-cel operon, iPSs and stem-loops precisely regulate structure and abundance of the subunit-encoding transcripts processed from a primary polycistronic RNA, quantitatively specifying cellulosome stoichiometry. In the 12-gene cip-cel operon that encodes cellulosomal enzymes, in vivo and in vitro analyses of the primary and processed transcripts validated the predicted TSs and iPSs and unraveled a mechanism where a combination of five iPSs and four stem-loops precisely determine the stoichiometry of cellulosome in vivo. This mechanism is phylogenetically conserved and drives cellulosome evolution by specifying the structure and abundance of cellulosomal-subunit-encoding transcripts via varying the number, positioning and biophysical nature of TSs, iPSs and stem-loops. Our findings unveil a genome-wide, RNA-encoded mechanism linking sequences and in vivo stoichiometry of protein complexes, and have general implications in designing and engineering protein complex assembly

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Conclusion

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