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Complete identity and expression of StfZ, the cis-antisense RNA to the mRNA of the cell division gene ftsZ, in Escherichia coli

Anand, D and Jakkala, K and Nair, RR and Sharan, D and Pradhan, A and Mukkayyan, N and Ajitkumar, P (2022) Complete identity and expression of StfZ, the cis-antisense RNA to the mRNA of the cell division gene ftsZ, in Escherichia coli. In: Frontiers in Microbiology, 13 .

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.920117

Abstract

Bacteria regulate FtsZ protein levels through transcriptional and translational mechanisms for proper cell division. A cis-antisense RNA, StfZ, produced from the ftsA-ftsZ intergenic region, was proposed to regulate FtsZ level in Escherichia coli. However, its structural identity remained unknown. In this study, we determined the complete sequence of StfZ and identified the isoforms and its promoters. We find that under native physiological conditions, StfZ is expressed at a 1:6 ratio of StfZ:ftsZ mRNA at all growth phases from three promoters as three isoforms of 366, 474, and 552 nt RNAs. Overexpression of StfZ reduces FtsZ protein level, increases cell length, and blocks cell division without affecting the ftsZ mRNA stability. We did not find differential expression of StfZ under the stress conditions of heat shock, cold shock, or oxidative stress, or at any growth phase. These data indicated that the cis-encoded StfZ antisense RNA to ftsZ mRNA may be involved in the fine tuning of ftsZ mRNA levels available for translation as per the growth-phase-specific requirement at all phases of growth and cell division.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
Additional Information: The copyright for this article belongs to the Authors.
Keywords: cell division; Escherichia coli; FtsZ level; ftsZ mRNA; StfZ cis-antisense RNA
Department/Centre: Division of Biological Sciences > Microbiology & Cell Biology
Date Deposited: 16 Dec 2022 09:28
Last Modified: 16 Dec 2022 09:28
URI: https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/78468

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