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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1528-1536, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01316-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

An Intramolecular Upstream Helix Ensures the Stability of a Toxin-Encoding RNA in Enterococcus faecalis{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Sonia Shokeen,1 Tony J. Greenfield,2 Erik A. Ehli,3 Jessica Rasmussen,1 Brian E. Perrault,1 and Keith E. Weaver1*

Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069,1 Department of Biology, Southwest Minnesota State University, 1501 State St., Marshall, Minnesota 56258,2 Avera Behavioral Health Center, 4400 W. 69th Street, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 571083

Received 18 September 2008/ Accepted 9 December 2008

The par stability determinant is required for the stable inheritance of the plasmid pAD1 in its native host, Enterococcus faecalis. It is the only antisense RNA-regulated addiction module identified to date in gram-positive bacteria. It encodes two small, convergently transcribed RNAs, RNA I and RNA II. RNA I encodes the Fst toxin and RNA II acts as the antitoxin by interacting with RNA I posttranscriptionally. As the toxin-encoding component of the system, it is important that RNA I is more stable than RNA II. This study reveals that a helix sequestering the 5' end of RNA I plays a crucial role in maintaining the stability of the RNA I. An adjacent structure previously determined to regulate Fst translation was not required to enhance stability. Results indicated that endoribonuclease J2 contributes significantly to the degradation of a mutant disrupting the upstream helix (UH) of RNA I in Bacillus subtilis. Finally, it was shown that interaction with RNA II stabilized the UH mutant of RNA I.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069. Phone: (605) 677-5169. Fax: (605) 677-6381. E-mail: kweaver{at}usd.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 19 December 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1528-1536, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01316-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Weaver, K. E., Reddy, S. G., Brinkman, C. L., Patel, S., Bayles, K. W., Endres, J. L. (2009). Identification and characterization of a family of toxin-antitoxin systems related to the Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pAD1 par addiction module. Microbiology 155: 2930-2940 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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