title: Decay of the IS10 antisense RNA by 3' exoribonucleases: evidence that RNase II stabilizes RNA-OUT against PNPase attack.
abstract: RNA-OUT, the 69-nucleotide antisense RNA that regulates Tn10/IS10 transposition folds into a simple stem-loop structure. The unusually high metabolic stability of RNA-OUT is dependent, in part, on the integrity of its stem-domain: mutations that disrupt stem-domain structure (Class II mutations) render RNA-OUT unstable, and restoration of structure restores stability. Indeed, there is a strong correlation between the thermodynamic and metabolic stabilities of RNA-OUT. We show here that stem-domain integrity determines RNA-OUT's resistance to 3' exoribonucleolytic attack: Class II mutations are almost completely suppressed in Escherichia coli cells lacking its principal 3' exoribonucleases, ribonuclease II (RNase II) and polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). RNase II and PNPase are individually able to degrade various RNA-OUT species, albeit with different efficiencies: RNA-OUT secondary structure provides greater resistance to RNase II than to PNPase. Surprisingly, RNA-OUT is threefold more stable in wild-type cells than in cells deficient for RNase II activity, suggesting that RNase II somehow lessens PNPase attack on RNA-OUT. We discuss how this might occur. We also show that wild-type RNA-OUT stability changes only two-fold across the normal range of physiological growth temperatures (30-44 degrees C) in wild-type cells, which has important implications for IS10 biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pepe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maslesa-Galić
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Simons
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D005095:Exoribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D011117:Polyribonucleotide Nucleotidyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000378:metabolism*; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D019895:Transposases
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; D019895:Transposases; D011117:Polyribonucleotide Nucleotidyltransferase; D005095:Exoribonucleases; C024843:poly A specific exoribonuclease; C022535:exoribonuclease II