A novel bipartite antitermination system widespread in conjugative elements of Gram-positive bacteria

Transcriptional regulation allows adaptive and coordinated gene expression, and is essential for life. Processive antitermination systems alter the transcription elongation complex to allow the RNA polymerase to read through multiple terminators in an operon. Here, we describe the discovery of a nov...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Miguel-Arribas, Andrés, Val-Calvo, Jorge, Gago-Córdoba, César, Izquierdo, José M., Abia, David, Wu, Ling Juan, Errington, Jeff, Meijer, Wilfried J.J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/710434
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/710434
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab360
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gene Regulation
Chromatin and Epigenetics
Biología y Biomedicina / Biología
Descripción
Sumario:Transcriptional regulation allows adaptive and coordinated gene expression, and is essential for life. Processive antitermination systems alter the transcription elongation complex to allow the RNA polymerase to read through multiple terminators in an operon. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel bipartite antitermination system that is widespread among conjugative elements from Gram-positive bacteria, which we named conAn. This system is composed of a large RNA element that exerts antitermination, and a protein that functions as a processivity factor. Besides allowing coordinated expression of very long operons, we show that these systems allow differential expression of genes within an operon, and probably contribute to strict regulation of the conjugation genes by minimizing the effects of spurious transcription. Mechanistic features of the conAn system are likely to decisively influence its host range, with important implications for the spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes