Bacillus subtilis BSR sRNAs

In a screen of the Bacillus subtilis genome for genes encoding ncRNAs, Saito et al. focused on 123 intergenic regions (IGRs) over 500 base pairs in length, the authors analyzed expression from these regions. Seven IGRs termed bsrC, bsrD, bsrE, bsrF, bsrG, bsrH and bsrI expressed RNAs smaller than 380 nt. All the small RNAs except BsrD RNA were expressed in transformed Escherichia coli cells harboring a plasmid with PCR-amplified IGRs of B. subtilis, indicating that their own promoters independently express small RNAs. Under non-stressed condition, depletion of the genes for the small RNAs did not affect growth. Although their functions are unknown, gene expression profiles at several time points showed that most of the genes except for bsrD were expressed during the vegetative phase (4–6 h), but undetectable during the stationary phase (8 h). Mapping the 5' ends of the 6 small RNAs revealed that the genes for BsrE, BsrF, BsrG, BsrH, and BsrI RNAs are preceded by a recognition site for RNA polymerase sigma factor σ^A.^[1]

See also

• Bacterial small RNA
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis sRNA
• Caenorhabditis elegans small RNAs
• Escherichia coli sRNA
• Pseudomonas sRNA

References

1. Saito S, Kakeshita H, Nakamura K (2008). "Novel small RNA-encoding genes in the intergenic regions of Bacillus subtilis.". Gene. 428 (1–2): 2–8. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2008.09.024. PMID 18948176.