sRNA-mediated activation of gene expression by inhibition of 5'-3’ exonucleolytic mRNA degradation

  1. Sylvain Durand  Is a corresponding author
  2. Frédérique Braun
  3. Anne-Catherine Helfer
  4. Pascale Romby
  5. Ciarán Condon  Is a corresponding author
  1. UMR8261 CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, France
  2. Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, France

Abstract

Post-transcriptional control by small regulatory RNA (sRNA) is critical for rapid adaptive processes. sRNAs can directly modulate mRNA degradation in Proteobacteria without interfering with translation. However, Firmicutes have a fundamentally different set of ribonucleases for mRNA degradation and whether sRNAs can regulate the activity of these enzymes is an open question. We show that Bacillus subtilis RoxS, a major trans-acting sRNA shared with Staphylococus aureus, prevents degradation of the yflS mRNA, encoding a malate transporter. In the presence of malate, RoxS transiently escapes from repression by the NADH-sensitive transcription factor Rex and binds to the extreme 5’-end of yflS mRNA. This impairs the 5’-3’ exoribonuclease activity of RNase J1, increasing the half-life of the primary transcript and concomitantly enhances ribosome binding to increase expression of the transporter. Globally, the different targets regulated by RoxS suggest that it helps readjust the cellular NAD+/NADH balance when perturbed by different stimuli.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Sylvain Durand

    Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, UMR8261 CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
    For correspondence
    durand@ibpc.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3509-6463
  2. Frédérique Braun

    Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, UMR8261 CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Anne-Catherine Helfer

    Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, UPR 9002, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Pascale Romby

    Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, UPR 9002, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Ciarán Condon

    Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, UMR8261 CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
    For correspondence
    condon@ibpc.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Université Paris Diderot (UMR8261)

  • Ciarán Condon

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-LABX-0036 NETRNA)

  • Pascale Romby

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-16-CE12-0002-01 BaRR)

  • Sylvain Durand

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-12-BSV6-0007 asSUPYCO)

  • Ciarán Condon

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR8261,UPR9002)

  • Sylvain Durand
  • Frédérique Braun
  • Anne-Catherine Helfer
  • Pascale Romby
  • Ciarán Condon

Université de Strasbourg (UPR9002)

  • Pascale Romby

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Jörg Vogel, University of Würzburg, Germany

Version history

  1. Received: November 23, 2016
  2. Accepted: April 23, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: April 24, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: May 5, 2017 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2017, Durand et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Sylvain Durand
  2. Frédérique Braun
  3. Anne-Catherine Helfer
  4. Pascale Romby
  5. Ciarán Condon
(2017)
sRNA-mediated activation of gene expression by inhibition of 5'-3’ exonucleolytic mRNA degradation
eLife 6:e23602.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23602

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23602

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