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Autogenous regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase during cold acclimation by transcription termination and antitermination

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Abstract

Adaptation of Escherichia coli at low temperature implicates a drastic reprogramming of gene expression patterns. Mechanisms operating downstream of transcription initiation, such as control of transcription termination, mRNA stability and translatability, play a major role in controlling gene expression in the cold acclimation phase. It was previously shown that Rho-dependent transcription termination within pnp, the gene encoding polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), was suppressed in pnp nonsense mutants, whereas it was restored by complementation with wild type allele. Using a tRNA gene as a reporter and the strong Rho-dependent transcription terminator t imm of bacteriophage P4 as a tester, here we show that specific sites in the 5′-untranslated region of pnp mRNA are required for PNPase-sensitive cold-induced suppression of Rho-dependent transcription termination. We suggest that suppression of Rho-dependent transcription termination within pnp and its restoration by PNPase is an autogenous regulatory circuit that modulates pnp expression during cold acclimation.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by joint grants from the Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca and Università degli Studi di Milano (PRIN 2003, PRIN 2005, and FIRB 2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze biomolecolari e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133, Milano, Italy

    Paolo Marchi, Vera Longhi, Elisa Gaetani, Federica Briani & Gianni Dehò

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia MCA, Università di Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Paolo Marchi

  3. Centro di Studio del CNR sulla Biologia Cellulare e Molecolare delle Piante, c/o Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Sandro Zangrossi

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  1. Paolo Marchi
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  2. Vera Longhi
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  3. Sandro Zangrossi
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  4. Elisa Gaetani
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  5. Federica Briani
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  6. Gianni Dehò
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Correspondence to Gianni Dehò.

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Communicated by D. Andersson.

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Marchi, P., Longhi, V., Zangrossi, S. et al. Autogenous regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase during cold acclimation by transcription termination and antitermination. Mol Genet Genomics 278, 75–84 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-007-0231-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-007-0231-3

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