Abstract.
Members of a family of small cold-shock proteins (CSPs) are induced during bacterial cell response to a temperature decrease. Here we review available data about the structure, molecular properties, mechanism of induction and possible functions of CSPs. CSPs preferentially bind single-stranded RNA and DNA and appear to play an important role in cell physiology under both normal and cold-shock conditions. Although the function of CSPs in cold-shock adaptation has not yet been elucidated in detail, a number of experimental evidences suggests that CSPs bind messenger RNA (mRNA) and regulate ribosomal translation, rate of mRNA degradation and termination of transcription.
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Received 26 April 2002; received after revision 27 May 2002; accepted 30 May 2002
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Ermolenko, D., Makhatadze, G. Bacterial cold-shock proteins. CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 59, 1902–1913 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00012513
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00012513