5'-to-3' exoribonuclease activity in bacteria: role of RNase J1 in rRNA maturation and 5' stability of mRNA.

Nathalie Mathy, Lionel Bénard, Olivier Pellegrini, Roula Daou, Tingyi Wen, Ciarán Condon

CNRS UPR 9073 (affiliated with Université de Paris 7 - Denis Diderot), Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, 13 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris.

Cell 2007 May 18

filter terms:

Although the primary mechanism of eukaryotic messenger RNA decay is exoribonucleolytic degradation in the 5'-to-3' orientation, it has been widely accepted that Bacteria can only degrade RNAs with the opposite polarity, i.e. 3' to 5'. Here we show that maturation of the 5' side of Bacillus subtilis 16S ribosomal RNA occurs via a 5'-to-3' exonucleolytic pathway, catalyzed by the widely distributed essential ribonuclease RNase J1. The presence of a 5'-to-3' exoribonuclease activity in B. subtilis suggested an explanation for the phenomenon whereby mRNAs in this organism are stabilized for great distances downstream of "roadblocks" such as stalled ribosomes or stable secondary structures, whereas upstream sequences are never detected. We show that a 30S ribosomal subunit bound to a Shine Dalgarno-like element (Stab-SD) in the cryIIIA mRNA blocks exonucleolytic progression of RNase J1, accounting for the stabilizing effect of this element in vivo.

Citation

Nathalie Mathy, Lionel Bénard, Olivier Pellegrini, Roula Daou, Tingyi Wen, Ciarán Condon. 5'-to-3' exoribonuclease activity in bacteria: role of RNase J1 in rRNA maturation and 5' stability of mRNA. Cell. 2007 May 18;129(4):681-92