Regulating the regulator: an RNA decoy acts as an OFF switch for the regulation of an sRNA.
Many bacterial small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) pair with mRNA targets, stimulating or inhibiting mRNA stability and/or translation. Regulation of these sRNAs is usually due to tight transcriptional regulation of synthesis.In this issue of Genes & Development and a related paper in Molecular Microbiology, Figueroa-Bossi and colleagues (pp. 2004-2015) and Overgaard and colleagues report a novel regulatory mechanism in which induction of a competing mRNA acts to titrate away the sRNA, allowing expression of an otherwise strongly inhibited target gene.
Mandin
Pierre
P
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Gottesman
Susan
S
D002686:Chitin / Q000378:metabolism; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism
D035683:MicroRNAs; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D002686:Chitin