Skip Navigation



Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on October 13, 2009
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkp825
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (1797K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (776K) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Moreno, R.
Right arrow Articles by Rojo, F.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Moreno, R.
Right arrow Articles by Rojo, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author(s) 2009. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

RNA

The Crc global regulator binds to an unpaired A-rich motif at the Pseudomonas putida alkS mRNA coding sequence and inhibits translation initiation

Renata Moreno1, Stefano Marzi2, Pascale Romby2 and Fernando Rojo1,*

1Departamento de Biotecnología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Campus UAM, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain and 2Architecture et Réactivité de l’ARN, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IBMC, 15 rue René Descartes, F-67084 Strasbourg, France

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +34915854539; Fax: +34915854506; Email: frojo{at}cnb.csic.es

Received September 3, 2009. Revised September 18, 2009. Accepted September 18, 2009.

Crc is a key global translational regulator in Pseudomonads that orchestrates the hierarchy of induction of several catabolic pathways for amino acids, sugars, hydrocarbons or aromatic compounds. In the presence of amino acids, which are preferred carbon sources, Crc inhibits translation of the Pseudomonas putida alkS and benR mRNAs, which code for transcriptional regulators of genes required to assimilate alkanes (hydrocarbons) and benzoate (an aromatic compound), respectively. Crc binds to the 5'-end of these mRNAs, but the sequence and/or structure recognized, and the way in which it inhibits translation, were unknown. We have determined the secondary structure of the alkS mRNA 5'-end through its sensitivity to several ribonucleases and chemical reagents. Footprinting and band-shift assays using variant alkS mRNAs have shown that Crc specifically binds to a short unpaired A-rich sequence located adjacent to the alkS AUG start codon. This interaction is stable enough to prevent formation of the translational initiation complex. A similar Crc-binding site was localized at benR mRNA, upstream of the Shine–Dalgarno sequence. This allowed predicting binding sites at other Crc-regulated genes, deriving a consensus sequence that will help to validate new Crc targets and to discriminate between direct and indirect effects of this regulator.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.