Open AccessA small RNA is functional in Escherichia fergusonii despite containing a large insertion
Author(s) -
Austin P Wright,
H Auguste Dutcher,
Brianna Butler,
Timothy J. Nice,
Rahul Raghavan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1465-2080
pISSN - 1350-0872
DOI - 10.1099/mic.0.001099
Subject(s) - escherichia coli , physics , biology , genetics , gene
Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression; however, the impact of natural mutations on sRNA functions has not been studied extensively. Here we show that the sRNA MgrR contains a unique 53 bp insertion in Escherichia fergusonii , a close relative of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica . The insertion is a repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) sequence that could block transcription, but full-length MgrR is produced in E. fergusonii , showing that the insertion has not affected sRNA production. Additionally, despite containing the large insertion, the sRNA appears to be functional because deletion of mgrR made E. fergusonii more susceptible to H 2 O 2 . The molecular details of MgrR’s roles in H 2 O 2 defence are yet to be defined, but our results suggest that having an alternative function allowed the sRNA to be retained in E. fergusonii despite it sustaining a large, potentially disruptive mutation.