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Spot 42 RNA regulates putrescine catabolism in Escherichia coli by controlling the expression of puuE at the post-transcription level

  • Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry
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Abstract

Putrescine, a typical polyamine compound important for cell growth and stress resistance, can be utilized as an energy source. However, the regulation of its catabolism is unclear. Here the small RNA (sRNA) Spot 42, an essential regulator of carbon catabolite repression (CCR), was confirmed to participate in the post-transcriptional regulation of putrescine catabolism in Escherichia coli. Its encoding gene spf exclusively exists in the γ-proteobacteria and contains specific binding sites to the 5′-untranslated regions of the puuE gene, which encodes transaminase in the glutamylated putrescine pathway of putrescine catabolism converting γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) into succinate semialdehyde (SSA). The transcription of the spf gene was induced by glucose, inhibited by putrescine, and unaffected by PuuR, the repressor of puu genes. Excess Spot 42 repressed the expression of PuuE significantly in an antisense mechanism through the direct and specific base-pairing between the 51`-57 nt of Spot 42 and the 5′-UTR of puuE. Interestingly, Spot 42 mainly influenced the stability of the puuCBE transcript. This work revealed the regulatory role of Spot 42 in putrescine catabolism, in the switch between favorable and non-favorable carbon source utilization, and in the balance of metabolism of carbon and nitrogen sources.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (19ZR1475500) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570099).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, P. R. China

    Xin Sun, Ruyan Li, Guochen Wan, Wanli Peng, Shuangjun Lin, Zixin Deng & Rubing Liang

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  1. Xin Sun
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  2. Ruyan Li
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  3. Guochen Wan
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  7. Rubing Liang
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Contributions

X S and RY L performed the experiments and and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. GC W and WL P assisted the experiments. ZX D and SJ L gave advice and support to this study. RB L designed the experiments, modified the manuscript and supported the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rubing Liang.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Sun, X., Li, R., Wan, G. et al. Spot 42 RNA regulates putrescine catabolism in Escherichia coli by controlling the expression of puuE at the post-transcription level. J Microbiol. 59, 175–185 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0421-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0421-4

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