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Query: EC:2.7.7.8 (polynucleotide phosphorylase)
723 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The stability of mRNA in prokaryotes depends on multiple factors and it has not yet been possible to describe the process of mRNA degradation in terms of a unique pathway. However, important advances have been made in the past 10 years with the characterization of the cis-acting RNA elements and the trans-acting cellular proteins that control mRNA decay. The trans-acting proteins are mainly four nucleases, two endo- (RNase E and RNase III) and two exonucleases (PNPase and RNase II), and poly(A) polymerase. RNase E and PNPase are found in a multienzyme complex called the degradosome. In addition to the host nucleases, phage T4 encodes a specific endonuclease called RegB. The cis-acting elements that protect mRNA from degradation are stable stem-loops at the 5' end of the transcript and terminators or REP sequences at their 3' end. The rate-limiting step in mRNA decay is usually an initial endonucleolytic cleavage that often occurs at the 5' extremity. This initial step is followed by directional 3' to 5' degradation by the two exonucleases. Several examples, reviewed here, indicate that mRNA degradation is an important step at which gene expression can be controlled. This regulation can be either global, as in the case of growth rate-dependent control, or specific, in response to changes in the environmental conditions.
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PMID:Messenger RNA stability and its role in control of gene expression in bacteria and phages. 1069 Apr 8

When Escherichia coli cells are shifted to low temperatures (e.g. 15 degrees C), growth halts while the 'cold shock response' (CSR) genes are induced, after which growth resumes. One CSR gene, pnp, encodes polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), a 3'-exoribonuclease and component of the RNA degradosome. At 37 degrees C, ribonuclease III (RNase III, encoded by rnc) cleaves the pnp untranslated leader, whereupon PNPase represses its own translation by an unknown mechanism. Here, we show that PNPase cold-temperature induction involves several post-transcriptional events, all of which require the intact pnp mRNA leader. The bulk of induction results from reversal of autoregulation at a step subsequent to RNase III cleavage of the pnp leader. We also found that pnp translation occurs throughout cold-temperature adaptation, whereas lacZ(+) translation was delayed. This difference is striking, as both mRNAs are greatly stabilized upon the shift to 15 degrees C. However, unlike the lacZ(+) mRNA, which remains stable during adaptation, pnp mRNA decay accelerates. Together with other evidence, these results suggest that mRNA is generally stabilized upon a shift to cold temperatures, but that a CSR mRNA-specific decay process is initiated during adaptation.
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PMID:Cold-temperature induction of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase occurs by reversal of its autoregulation. 1112 93

Polynucleotide phosphorylase synthesis is autocontrolled at a post-transcriptional level in an RNase III-dependent mechanism. RNase III cleaves a long stem-loop in the pnp leader, which triggers pnp mRNA instability, resulting in a decrease in the synthesis of polynucleotide phosphorylase. The staggered cleavage by RNase III removes the upper part of the stem-loop structure, creating a duplex with a short 3' extension. Mutations or high temperatures, which destabilize the cleaved stem-loop, decrease expression of pnp, while mutations that stabilize the stem increase expression. We propose that the dangling 3' end of the duplex created by RNase III constitutes a target for polynucleotide phosphorylase, which binds to and degrades the upstream half of this duplex, hence inducing pnp mRNA instability. Consistent with this interpretation, a pnp mRNA starting at the downstream RNase III processing site exhibits a very low level of expression, regardless of the presence of polynucleotide phosphorylase. Moreover, using an in vitro synthesized pnp leader transcript, it is shown that polynucleotide phosphorylase is able to digest the duplex formed after RNase III cleavage.
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PMID:PNPase autocontrols its expression by degrading a double-stranded structure in the pnp mRNA leader. 1172 20

We have examined the expression of pnp encoding the 3'-5'-exoribonuclease, polynucleotide phosphorylase, in Streptomyces antibioticus. We show that the rpsO-pnp operon is transcribed from at least two promoters, the first producing a readthrough transcript that includes both pnp and the gene for ribosomal protein S15 (rpsO) and a second, Ppnp, located in the rpsO-pnp intergenic region. Unlike the situation in Escherichia coli, where observation of the readthrough transcript requires mutants lacking RNase III, we detect readthrough transcripts in wild-type S. antibioticus mycelia. The Ppnp transcriptional start point was mapped by primer extension and confirmed by RNA ligase-mediated reverse transcription-PCR, a technique which discriminates between 5' ends created by transcription initiation and those produced by posttranscriptional processing. Promoter probe analysis demonstrated the presence of a functional promoter in the intergenic region. The Ppnp sequence is similar to a group of promoters recognized by the extracytoplasmic function sigma factors, sigma-R and sigma-E. We note a number of other differences in rspO-pnp structure and function between S. antibioticus and E. coli. In E. coli, pnp autoregulation and cold shock adaptation are dependent upon RNase III cleavage of an rpsO-pnp intergenic hairpin. Computer modeling of the secondary structure of the S. antibioticus readthrough transcript predicts a stem-loop structure analogous to that in E. coli. However, our analysis suggests that while the readthrough transcript observed in S. antibioticus may be processed by an RNase III-like activity, transcripts originating from Ppnp are not. Furthermore, the S. antibioticus rpsO-pnp intergenic region contains two open reading frames. The larger of these, orfA, may be a pseudogene. The smaller open reading frame, orfX, also observed in Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces avermitilis, may be translationally coupled to pnp and the gene downstream from pnp, a putative protease.
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PMID:Organization and expression of the polynucleotide phosphorylase gene (pnp) of Streptomyces: Processing of pnp transcripts in Streptomyces antibioticus. 1512 78

The endoribonuclease III (RNase III), encoded by the rnc gene, is an important enzyme for RNA metabolism. In this report a chromosomal fragment containing the rnc gene from Lactococcus lactis was cloned and its expression was analyzed. Complementation assays performed in Escherichia coli demonstrate that the lactococcal RNase III (Lac-RNase III) is able to process rRNAs and to regulate the levels of polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). These results demonstrate that the lactococcal enzyme is able to substitute the Ec-RNase III not only in the rRNA processing, but also in the processing of mRNAs. The amount of lactococcal rnc transcript in an E. coli Deltarnc strain was 3.3-fold higher than in the wild type strain, suggesting that the E. coli RNase III triggers the degradation of the heterologous rnc mRNA. Lac-RNase III is able to cleave an in vitro synthesized mRNA substrate specific for the Bacillus subtilis homolog. Using this substrate, we standardized an enzymatic assay which allows the specific detection of the endonucleolytic activity of Lac-RNase III in L. lactis and E. coli crude extracts.
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PMID:Homologous and heterologous expression of RNase III from Lactococcus lactis. 1538 Oct 83

In pathogenic bacteria, a large number of sRNAs coordinate adaptation to stress and expression of virulence genes. To better understand the turnover of regulatory sRNAs in the model pathogen, Salmonella typhimurium, we have constructed mutants for several ribonucleases (RNase E, RNase G, RNase III, PNPase) and Poly(A) Polymerase I. The expression profiles of four sRNAs conserved among many enterobacteria, CsrB, CsrC, MicA and SraL, were analysed and the processing and stability of these sRNAs was studied in the constructed strains. The degradosome was a common feature involved in the turnover of these four sRNAs. PAPI-mediated polyadenylation was the major factor governing SraL degradation. RNase III was revealed to strongly affect MicA decay. PNPase was shown to be important in the decay of these four sRNAs. The stability of CsrB and CsrC seemed to be independent of the RNA chaperone, Hfq, whereas the decay of SraL and MicA was Hfq-dependent. Taken together, the results of this study provide initial insight into the mechanisms of sRNA decay in Salmonella, and indicate specific contributions of the RNA decay machinery components to the turnover of individual sRNAs.
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PMID:Characterization of the role of ribonucleases in Salmonella small RNA decay. 1798 74

Replication of the ColE2 plasmid requires a plasmid-coded initiator protein (Rep). Rep expression is controlled by antisense RNA (RNAI) against the Rep mRNA at a translational step. In this paper, we examined the effects of host RNA degradation enzymes on the degradation process of the Rep mRNA and its degradation intermediates especially those carrying the 5' untranslated region. We showed that the Rep mRNA is subjected to complex degradation pathways involving at least RNase I, RNase II, RNase III, RNase E, RNase G and PNPase. RNase II acts as a major exoribonuclease and PNPase plays a minor role. We also showed that the PcnB (polyA polymerase I) plays only a minor role in the Rep mRNA degradation process. The RNA degradation pathways of the Rep mRNA and RNAI of the ColE2 plasmid are quite different. Based on these results, we speculate that the ColE2 Rep mRNA and RNAI are endowed with individual RNA half lives required for the efficient copy number control by being subjected to different RNA degradation systems.
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PMID:Replication initiator protein mRNA of ColE2 plasmid and its antisense regulator RNA are under the control of different degradation pathways. 1819 Dec 5

The exoribonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase, encoded by pnp) is a major player in bacterial RNA decay. In Escherichia coli, PNPase expression is post-transcriptionally regulated at the level of mRNA stability. The primary transcript is very efficiently processed by the endonuclease RNase III at a specific site and the processed pnp mRNA is rapidly degraded in a PNPase-dependent manner. While investigating the PNPase autoregulation mechanism we found, by UV-cross-linking experiments, that the ribosomal protein S1 in crude extracts binds to the pnp-mRNA leader region. We assayed the potential role of S1 protein in pnp gene regulation by modulating S1 expression from depletion to overexpression. We found that S1 depletion led to a sharp decrease of the amount of pnp and other tested mRNAs, as detected by Northern blotting, whereas S1 overexpression caused a strong stabilization of pnp and the other transcripts. Surprisingly, mRNA stabilization depended on PNPase, as it was not observed in a pnp deletion strain. PNPase-dependent stabilization, however, was not detected by chemical decay assay of bulk mRNA. Overall, our data suggest that PNPase exonucleolytic activity may be modulated by the translation potential of the target mRNAs and that, upon ribosomal protein S1 overexpression, PNPase protects from degradation a set of full-length mRNAs. It thus appears that a single mRNA species may be differentially targeted to either decay or PNPase-dependent stabilization, thus preventing its depletion in conditions of fast turnover.
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PMID:Polynucleotide phosphorylase hinders mRNA degradation upon ribosomal protein S1 overexpression in Escherichia coli. 1882 15

The Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase; encoded by pnp), a phosphorolytic exoribonuclease, posttranscriptionally regulates its own expression at the level of mRNA stability and translation. Its primary transcript is very efficiently processed by RNase III, an endonuclease that makes a staggered double-strand cleavage about in the middle of a long stem-loop in the 5'-untranslated region. The processed pnp mRNA is then rapidly degraded in a PNPase-dependent manner. Two non-mutually exclusive models have been proposed to explain PNPase autogenous regulation. The earlier one suggested that PNPase impedes translation of the RNase III-processed pnp mRNA, thus exposing the transcript to degradative pathways. More recently, this has been replaced by the current model, which maintains that PNPase would simply degrade the promoter proximal small RNA generated by the RNase III endonucleolytic cleavage, thus destroying the double-stranded structure at the 5' end that otherwise stabilizes the pnp mRNA. In our opinion, however, the first model was not completely ruled out. Moreover, the RNA decay pathway acting upon the pnp mRNA after disruption of the 5' double-stranded structure remained to be determined. Here we provide additional support to the current model and show that the RNase III-processed pnp mRNA devoid of the double-stranded structure at its 5' end is not translatable and is degraded by RNase E in a PNPase-independent manner. Thus, the role of PNPase in autoregulation is simply to remove, in concert with RNase III, the 5' fragment of the cleaved structure that both allows translation and prevents the RNase E-mediated PNPase-independent degradation of the pnp transcript.
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PMID:Autogenous regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase expression revisited. 1913 86

OxyS is one of at least three small non-coding RNAs, which affect rpoS expression. It is induced under oxidative stress and reduces the levels of the stationary phase sigma factor RpoS. We analyzed the turn-over of OxyS and rpoS mRNA in early exponential and in stationary growth phase in different E. coli strains to learn more about the mechanisms of processing and about a possible impact of processing on growth-dependent regulation. We could not attribute a major role of RNase E, RNase III, PNPase or RNase II on OxyS turn-over in exponential growth phase. Only the simultaneous lack of RNase E, PNPase and RNase II activity resulted in some stabilization of OxyS in exponential growth phase, implying the action of multiple ribonucleases on OxyS turn-over. A major role of RNase E on OxyS stability was observed in stationary phase and was dependent on the presence of the RNA binding protein Hfq and of DsrA, one of the other small RNAs binding to rpoS mRNA. Our data also confirm a role of RNase III in rpoS turn-over, however, only in exponential growth phase.We conclude that OxyS and rpoS mRNA processing is influenced by different RNases and additional factors like Hfq and DsrA and that the impact of these factors is strongly dependent on growth phase.
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PMID:The influence of Hfq and ribonucleases on the stability of the small non-coding RNA OxyS and its target rpoS in E. coli is growth phase dependent. 2001 54


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