AAU-Specific RNA Cleavage Mediated by MazF Toxin Endoribonuclease Conserved in Nitrosomonas europaea.
Nitrosomonas europaea carries numerous toxin-antitoxin systems. However, despite the abundant representation in its chromosome, studies have not surveyed the underlying molecular functions in detail, and their biological roles remain enigmatic. In the present study, we found that a chromosomally-encoded MazF family member, predicted at the locus NE1181, is a functional toxin endoribonuclease, and constitutes a toxin-antitoxin system, together with its cognate antitoxin, MazE. Massive parallel sequencing provided strong evidence that this toxin endoribonuclease exhibits RNA cleavage activity, primarily against the AAU triplet. This sequence-specificity was supported by the results of fluorometric assays. Our results indicate that N. europaea alters the translation profile and regulates its growth using the MazF family of endoribonuclease under certain stressful conditions.
Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. tatuki-miyamoto@asagi.waseda.jp.|Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. tatuki-miyamoto@asagi.waseda.jp.
Tatsuki
T
Miyamoto
Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. akiko-yokota@aist.go.jp.
Akiko
A
Yokota
Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. stsuneda@waseda.jp.
Satoshi
S
Tsuneda
Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8480, Japan. noda-naohiro@aist.go.jp.|Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. noda-naohiro@aist.go.jp.
Naohiro
N
Noda
D000992:Antitoxins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000235:genetics*; D043370:Nitrosomonas europaea / Q000235:genetics*; D059367:RNA Cleavage
D000992:Antitoxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004722:Endoribonucleases
MazF; Nitrosomonas europaea; sequence-specific endoribonuclease; toxin-antitoxin system