Poster abstracts
Poster number 42 submitted by Samantha Grecco
Gene-specific Pulldown for targeted in vivo RNA structure probing
Samantha Grecco (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Beckman Scholar, Schreyer Honors College, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA), Janie K. Frandsen (Department of Chemistry, Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA), Philip C. Bevilacqua (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA)
Abstract:
When Escherichia coli experiences environmental stressors it initiates regulatory responses to maintain homeostasis. In response to a specific stress, small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) change the expression of target mRNAs by altering mRNA stability and translation efficiency. The sRNA RyhB is expressed under iron-limiting conditions and regulates the iron sparing response.1 The majority of RyhB targets have not been characterized and the role of RNA structure in the sRNA-mRNA interactions is unknown. It is hypothesized that the target mRNA secondary structure influences the ability of RhyB to bind and that the interaction may induce a structural rearrangement to alter gene expression. To analyze the role of RNA structure in RyhB regulation four putative RyhB targets (cirA, fliA, sufAB, frdA) were selected. Then gene expression profiling was performed, and a gene-specific pulldown was developed for targeted in vivo structure probing. This research will provide a deeper understanding of the regulatory systems in E. coli, which could help combat pathogenic infections and antibiotic resistance.
References:
1. Chareyre, S., Mandin, P. (2018) Bacterial Iron Homeostasis Regulation by sRNAs, Microbiol. Spectr. 6(2), 267-281.
Keywords: sRNA, RyhB, RNA structure probing