title: RNA localization in bacteria.
abstract: One of the most important discoveries in the field of microbiology in the last two decades is that bacterial cells have intricate subcellular organization. This understanding has emerged mainly from the depiction of spatial and temporal organization of proteins in specific domains within bacterial cells, e.g., midcell, cell poles, membrane and periplasm. Because translation of bacterial RNA molecules was considered to be strictly coupled to their synthesis, they were not thought to specifically localize to regions outside the nucleoid. However, the increasing interest in RNAs, including non-coding RNAs, encouraged researchers to explore the spatial and temporal localization of RNAs in bacteria. The recent technological improvements in the field of fluorescence microscopy allowed subcellular imaging of RNAs even in the tiny bacterial cells. It has been reported by several groups, including ours that transcripts may specifically localize in such cells. Here we review what is known about localization of RNA and of the pathways that determine RNA fate in bacteria, and discuss the possible cues and mechanisms underlying these distribution patterns.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; IMRIC ; The Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine ; Israel.
authors.forename: Avi-ad Avraam
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Buskila
authors.forename: Shanmugapriya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kannaiah
authors.forename: Orna
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Amster-Choder
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D021381:Protein Transport; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D022661:RNA, Untranslated
keywords: FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridization; RNA localization; RNA zip-code; RNA, ribonucleic acid; RNAP, RNA polymerase; bacterial cell; ncRNAs, non-coding RNAs; protein targeting; sRNA, small RNA; subcellular organization