Poster abstracts
Poster number 139 submitted by Andy Briercheck
Role of rRNA Methyltransferases During Bacterial Cold Shock Adaptation
Andrew Briercheck (Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Hao Fan (Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Mengwen Xiong (Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Vivek K Mutalik (Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory), Yan Zhang (Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Abstract:
The ability of bacteria to sense and respond to environmental changes is vital for their growth and survival. Despite extensive research in bacterial stress response, the cold shock response system remains largely uncharacterized. Using growth curves and BarSeq in collaboration with Vivek Mutalik (LBNL), our lab was able to assess a multitude of E. coli mutants under cold stress. These fitness values compare the relative growth rates for each mutant, drawing attention to those who showed significant growth defects after sudden cold shock compared to 37˚C. Among these genes observed, rsmA and rsmH were identified as key players in cold shock adaptation, across species. RsmA and rsmH encode rRNA methyltransferases that modify 16s rRNA, and have been suggested to play roles in the assembly and maturation of the 30s ribosome. In this study, we aim to investigate the function of RsmA and RsmH in ribosome assembly and translational regulation during the cold shock response. In E. coli and B. subtilis, we did not observe a significant accumulation of 17s rRNA precursor after cold shock. We are currently comparing ribosomal subunits and polysome profiles to assess how these rRNA methyltransferases contribute to assembly of the mature ribosome over the course of the cold stress response and adaptation. Future experiments will utilize ribosome sequencing to determine the target mRNAs for the ribosomes over the stress response. Together, these studies will investigate the role of methyltransferases as they contribute to the regulation of bacterial cold shock response through the maturation of the ribosome.
Keywords: Stress Response, Ribosome Assembly