Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.26.3 (RNase III)
1,015 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) synthesis is translationally autocontrolled via an RNase III-dependent mechanism, which results in a tight correlation between protein level and messenger stability. In cells grown at 18 degrees C, the amount of PNPase is twice that found in cells grown at 30 degrees C. To investigate whether this effect was transcriptional or posttranscriptional, the expression of a set of pnp-lacZ transcriptional and translational fusions was analyzed in cells grown at different temperatures. In the absence of PNPase, there was no increase in pnp-lacZ expression, indicating that the increase in pnp expression occurs at a posttranscriptional level. Other experiments clearly show that increased pnp expression at low temperature is only observed under conditions in which the autocontrol mechanism of PNPase is functional. At low temperature, the destabilizing effect of PNPase on its own mRNA is less efficient, leading to a decrease in repression and an increase in the expression level.
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PMID:Increased expression of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase at low temperatures is linked to a decrease in the efficiency of autocontrol. 1139 47

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

Polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), a 3' to 5' exonuclease encoded by pnp, plays a key role in Escherichia coli RNA decay. The enzyme, made of three identical 711 amino acid subunits, may also be assembled in the RNA degradosome, a heteromultimeric complex involved in RNA degradation. PNPase autogenously regulates its expression by promoting the decay of pnp mRNA, supposedly by binding at the 5'-untranslated leader region of an RNase III-processed form of this transcript. The KH and S1 RNA-binding domains at the C-terminus of the protein (amino acids 552-711) are thought to be involved in pnp mRNA recognition. Here we show that a G454D substitution in E.coli PNPase impairs autogenous regulation whereas it does not affect the catalytic activities of the enzyme. Although the mutation maps outside of the KH and S1 RNA-binding domains, analysis of the mutant protein revealed a defective RNA binding, thus suggesting that other determinants may be involved in PNPase-RNA interactions. The mutation also caused a looser association with the degradosome and an abnormal electrophoretic mobility in native gels. The latter feature suggests an altered structural conformation of PNPase, which may account for the properties of the mutant protein.
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PMID:A mutation in polynucleotide phosphorylase from Escherichia coli impairing RNA binding and degradosome stability. 1496 63

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

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

The continuous degradation and synthesis of prokaryotic mRNAs not only give rise to the metabolic changes that are required as cells grow and divide but also rapid adaptation to new environmental conditions. In bacteria, RNAs can be degraded by mechanisms that act independently, but in parallel, and that target different sites with different efficiencies. The accessibility of sites for degradation depends on several factors, including RNA higher-order structure, protection by translating ribosomes and polyadenylation status. Furthermore, RNA degradation mechanisms have shown to be determinant for the post-transcriptional control of gene expression. RNases mediate the processing, decay and quality control of RNA. RNases can be divided into endonucleases that cleave the RNA internally or exonucleases that cleave the RNA from one of the extremities. Just in Escherichia coli there are >20 different RNases. RNase E is a single-strand-specific endonuclease critical for mRNA decay in E. coli. The enzyme interacts with the exonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), enolase and RNA helicase B (RhlB) to form the degradosome. However, in Bacillus subtilis, this enzyme is absent, but it has other main endonucleases such as RNase J1 and RNase III. RNase III cleaves double-stranded RNA and family members are involved in RNA interference in eukaryotes. RNase II family members are ubiquitous exonucleases, and in eukaryotes, they can act as the catalytic subunit of the exosome. RNases act in different pathways to execute the maturation of rRNAs and tRNAs, and intervene in the decay of many different mRNAs and small noncoding RNAs. In general, RNases act as a global regulatory network extremely important for the regulation of RNA levels.
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PMID:The critical role of RNA processing and degradation in the control of gene expression. 2067 45

We have examined the expression of the rpsO-pnp operon in an RNase III (rnc) mutant of Streptomyces coelicolor. Western blotting demonstrated that polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) levels increased in the rnc mutant, JSE1880, compared with the parental strain, M145, and this observation was confirmed by polymerization assays. It was observed that rpsO-pnp mRNA levels increased in the rnc mutant by 1.6- to 4-fold compared with M145. This increase was observed in exponential, transition, and stationary phases, and the levels of the readthrough transcript, initiated upstream of rpsO in the rpsO-pnp operon; the pnp transcript, initiated in the rpsO-pnp intergenic region; and the rpsO transcript all increased. The increased levels of these transcripts in JSE1880 reflected increased chemical half-lives for each of the three. We demonstrated further that overexpression of the rpsO-pnp operon led to significantly higher levels of PNPase activity in JSE1880 compared to M145, reflecting the likelihood that PNPase expression is autoregulated in an RNase III-dependent manner in S. coelicolor. To explore further the increase in the level of the pnp transcript initiated in the intergenic region in JSE1880, we utilized that transcript as a substrate in assays employing purified S. coelicolor RNase III. These assays revealed the presence of hitherto-undiscovered sites of RNase III cleavage of the pnp transcript. The position of those sites was determined by primer extension, and they were shown to be situated in the loops of a stem-loop structure.
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PMID:RNase III-dependent expression of the rpsO-pnp operon of Streptomyces coelicolor. 2174 67

The transient existence of small RNAs free of binding to the RNA chaperone Hfq is part of the normal dynamic lifecycle of a sRNA. Small RNAs are extremely labile when not associated with Hfq, but the mechanism by which Hfq stabilizes sRNAs has been elusive. In this work we have found that polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) is the major factor involved in the rapid degradation of small RNAs, especially those that are free of binding to Hfq. The levels of MicA, GlmY, RyhB, and SgrS RNAs are drastically increased upon PNPase inactivation in Hfq(-) cells. In the absence of Hfq, all sRNAs are slightly shorter than their full-length species as result of 3'-end trimming. We show that the turnover of Hfq-free small RNAs is growth-phase regulated, and that PNPase activity is particularly important in stationary phase. Indeed, PNPase makes a greater contribution than RNase E, which is commonly believed to be the main enzyme in the decay of small RNAs. Lack of poly(A) polymerase I (PAP I) is also found to affect the rapid degradation of Hfq-free small RNAs, although to a lesser extent. Our data also suggest that when the sRNA is not associated with Hfq, the degradation occurs mainly in a target-independent pathway in which RNase III has a reduced impact. This work demonstrated that small RNAs free of Hfq binding are preferably degraded by PNPase. Overall, our data highlight the impact of 3'-exonucleolytic RNA decay pathways and re-evaluates the degradation mechanisms of Hfq-free small RNAs.
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PMID:The crucial role of PNPase in the degradation of small RNAs that are not associated with Hfq. 2235 64


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