title: Composition and conservation of the mRNA-degrading machinery in bacteria.
abstract: RNA synthesis and decay counteract each other and therefore inversely regulate gene expression in pro- and eukaryotic cells by controlling the steady-state level of individual transcripts. Genetic and biochemical data together with recent in depth annotation of bacterial genomes indicate that many components of the bacterial RNA decay machinery are evolutionarily conserved and that their functional analogues exist in organisms belonging to all kingdoms of life. Here we briefly review biological functions of essential enzymes, their evolutionary conservation and multienzyme complexes that are involved in mRNA decay in Escherichia coli and discuss their conservation in evolutionarily distant bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan. vladimir_kaberdin@ehu.es
authors.forename: Vladimir R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Kaberdin
authors.forename: Dharam
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin-Chao
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020871:RNA Stability; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012260:Ribonucleases