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Transcription termination in the plasmid/virus hybrid pSSVx from Sulfolobus islandicus

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Abstract

The pSSVx from Sulfolobus islandicus, strain REY15/4, is a hybrid between a plasmid and a fusellovirus. A systematic study previously performed revealed the presence of nine major transcripts, the expression of which was differentially and temporally regulated over the growth cycle of S. islandicus. In this study, two new transcripts were identified. Then, 3′ termini of all the RNAs were mapped using adaptor RT-PCR and RNase protection assays, and termination/arrest positions were identified for each transcript. The majority of the identified ending positions were located in the close vicinity of a T-rich sequence and this was consistent with termination signals identifiable for most of archaeal genes. Furthermore, termination also occurred at locations where a T-track sequence was absent but a stem-loop structure could be formed. We propose that an alternative mechanism based on secondary RNA structures and counter-transcripts might be responsible for the transcription termination at these T-track-minus loci in the closely spaced pSSVx genes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Simonetta Bartolucci for critically reading the manuscript. This work was aided by a grant from “Università Federico II di Napoli” in the framework of a programme named “short-term mobility” for researchers and by the “Danish Council for Independent Research: Technology and Production Sciences (grant number 274-07-0116 to Q.S.)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeal Genetics Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Biocenter Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark

    Patrizia Contursi & Qunxin She

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia Strutturale e Funzionale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cinthia, Naples, Italy

    Patrizia Contursi

  3. Istituto di Biochimica delle Proteine, CNR, via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Raffaele Cannio

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  1. Patrizia Contursi
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  2. Raffaele Cannio
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Correspondence to Patrizia Contursi.

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Communicated by L. Huang.

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Contursi, P., Cannio, R. & She, Q. Transcription termination in the plasmid/virus hybrid pSSVx from Sulfolobus islandicus . Extremophiles 14, 453–463 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-010-0325-4

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