Abstract
The number of base pairs in the 16S rRNA secondary structures of 51 bacterial sequences was counted, and the number of hydrogen bonds was estimated. The number of hydrogen bonds was highly correlated with the optimal growth temperature (OGT) rather than with the G + C content. Paired and unpaired nucleotides in mesophiles were compared to those in thermophiles. OGT exhibited a relationship with paired nucleotides but not with unpaired nucleotides. The total number of paired as well as unpaired nucleotides in mesophiles was very similar to that in thermophiles. However, the components in base pairs in mesophiles significantly differed from those in thermophiles. As compared with mesophiles, the number of G·C base pairs in thermophiles was high whereas that of A·U base pairs was low. In this study, we showed that hydrogen bonds are important for stabilizing 16S rRNAs at high temperatures.
Highlights
Bacteria can live in a wide temperature range from the freezing point of water to its boiling point
The plot of the percentage of hydrogen bonds consisting of G·C and A·U base pairs versus optimal growth temperature (OGT) expressed in degrees Celsius ( ̊C) showed the highest correlation (Figure 1)
Several G·U base pairs were observed in the 16S rRNA secondary structures; hydrogen bonds from G·U base pairs did not increase the correlation with the OGT
Summary
Bacteria can live in a wide temperature range from the freezing point of water to its boiling point. This indicates that the environment where water exists in the liquid state can be inhabited by bacteria. At their living temperature, macromolecules such as protein, DNA and RNA are stable and can perform their biological functions. Hydrogen bonds seem to play an important role for RNA thermal stability, the relationship between the number of hydrogen bonds and OGT has not reported yet
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