Kissing and RNA stability in antisense control of plasmid replication

Abstract

Plasmids have been invaluable models for studies of sophisticated gene-regulation circuits. These studies show that plasmids have different mechanisms for measuring their intracellular concentrations and controlling their copy numbers[ 1 Wagner E.G.H Simons R.W Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1994; 48: 713-742 Crossref Scopus (364) Google Scholar ]. Many plasmids use small, unstable antisense RNAs as principal regulators[ 1 Wagner E.G.H Simons R.W Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1994; 48: 713-742 Crossref Scopus (364) Google Scholar , 2 Eguchi Y Itoh T Tomizawa J Annu. Rev. Biochem. 1991; 60: 631-652 Crossref PubMed Scopus (273) Google Scholar ](iteron-controlled plasmids[ 3 Nordström K Cell. 1990; 63: 1121-1124 Abstract Full Text PDF Scopus (80) Google Scholar ]are not considered here). These inhibitors bind to their cognate target RNAs and, through a variety of mechanisms[ 1 Wagner E.G.H Simons R.W Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1994; 48: 713-742 Crossref Scopus (364) Google Scholar ], prevent initiation of plasmid replication. The complementarity between antisense and target RNAs suggested that RNA duplexes are the inhibitory structures.