Title 5’ Untranslated Region of the Pseudomonas putida WCS358 Stationary Phase Sigma Factor rpoS mRNA is Involved in RpoS Translational Regulation
Author Branko Jovcic1, Iris Bertani2, Vittorio Venturi2, Ljubisa Topisirovic1, and Milan Kojic1*
Address 1Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Vojvode Stepe 444/a, PO Box 23, 11010 Belgrade, Serbia, 2International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Area Science Park, 34012 Trieste, Italy
Bibliography Journal of Microbiology, 46(1),56-61, 2008,
DOI
Key Words Pseudomonas, rpoS, translational regulation
Abstract The σS subunit of RNA polymerase is a central regulator which governs the expression of a host of stationary phase-induced and osmotically regulated genes in Gram-negative bacteria. The Pseudomonas putida rpoS gene is transcribed as a monocistronic rpoS mRNA with a 368 nucleotide-long 5’ untranslated region (5’ UTR). In this study, we investigate the posttranscriptional control of RpoS synthesis using rpoS-lacZ transcriptional and translational fusions consisting of the native promoter and deletions of 5’ UTR or insertion into UTR. The differing activity of constructed translational fusions strongly indicated that the 5’ UTR is involved in the translational regulation of RpoS expression in the stationary phase. The results obtained herein demonstrated that the structure of UTR performs an important function in the translational regulation of the rpoS gene.