1
|
Tong AY, Tong EL, Hannani MA, Shaffer SN, Santiago D, Ferré-D'Amaré AR, Passalacqua LFM, Abdelsayed MM. RNA thermometers are widespread upstream of ABC transporter genes in bacteria. J Biol Chem 2024; 300:107547. [PMID: 38992441 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2024] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
RNA thermometers are temperature-sensing non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of downstream genes. A well-characterized RNA thermometer motif discovered in bacteria is the ROSE-like element (repression of heat shock gene expression). ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are a superfamily of transmembrane proteins that harness ATP hydrolysis to facilitate the export and import of substrates across cellular membranes. Through structure-guided bioinformatics, we discovered that ROSE-like RNA thermometers are widespread upstream of ABC transporter genes in bacteria. X-ray crystallography, biochemistry, and cellular assays indicate that these RNA thermometers are functional regulatory elements. This study expands the known biological role of RNA thermometers to these key membrane transporters.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alina Y Tong
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Elisha L Tong
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Michael A Hannani
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Samantha N Shaffer
- Laboratory of Nucleic Acids, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Danna Santiago
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
| | - Adrian R Ferré-D'Amaré
- Laboratory of Nucleic Acids, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Luiz F M Passalacqua
- Laboratory of Nucleic Acids, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
| | - Michael M Abdelsayed
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Sharts DM, Almanza MT, Banks AV, Castellanos AM, Hernandez CGO, Lopez ML, Rodriguez D, Tong AY, Segeberg MR, Passalacqua LFM, Abdelsayed MM. Robo-Therm, a pipeline to RNA thermometer discovery and validation. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2024; 30:760-769. [PMID: 38565243 PMCID: PMC11182007 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079980.124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
RNA thermometers are highly structured noncoding RNAs located in the 5'-untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes that regulate expression by undergoing conformational changes in response to temperature. The discovery of RNA thermometers through bioinformatics is difficult because there is little sequence conservation among their structural elements. Thus, the abundance of these thermosensitive regulatory structures remains unclear. Herein, to advance the discovery and validation of RNA thermometers, we developed Robo-Therm, a pipeline that combines an adaptive and user-friendly in silico motif search with a well-established reporter system. Through our application of Robo-Therm, we discovered two novel RNA thermometers in bacterial and bacteriophage genomes found in the human gut. One of these thermometers is present in the 5'-UTR of a gene that codes for σ 70 RNA polymerase subunit in the bacteria Mediterraneibacter gnavus and Bacteroides pectinophilus, and in the bacteriophage Caudoviricetes, which infects B. pectinophilus The other thermometer is in the 5'-UTR of a tetracycline resistance gene (tetR) in the intestinal bacteria Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri Our Robo-Therm pipeline can be applied to discover multiple RNA thermometers across various genomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Davis M Sharts
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Maria T Almanza
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Andrea V Banks
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Alyssa M Castellanos
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | | | - Monica L Lopez
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Daniela Rodriguez
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Alina Y Tong
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Maximilian R Segeberg
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| | - Luiz F M Passalacqua
- Laboratory of Nucleic Acids, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | - Michael M Abdelsayed
- Department of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Douds CA, Babitzke P, Bevilacqua PC. A new reagent for in vivo structure probing of RNA G and U residues that improves RNA structure prediction alone and combined with DMS. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2024; 30:901-919. [PMID: 38670632 PMCID: PMC11182018 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079974.124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
A key to understanding the roles of RNA in regulating gene expression is knowing their structures in vivo. One way to obtain this information is through probing the structures of RNA with chemicals. To probe RNA structure directly in cells, membrane-permeable reagents that modify the Watson-Crick (WC) face of unpaired nucleotides can be used. Although dimethyl sulfate (DMS) has led to substantial insight into RNA structure, it has limited nucleotide specificity in vivo, with WC face reactivity only at adenine (A) and cytosine (C) at neutral pH. The reagent 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) was recently shown to modify the WC face of guanine (G) and uracil (U). Although useful at lower concentrations in experiments that measure chemical modifications by reverse transcription (RT) stops, at higher concentrations necessary for detection by mutational profiling (MaP), EDC treatment leads to degradation of RNA. Here, we demonstrate EDC-stimulated degradation of RNA in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In an attempt to overcome these limitations, we developed a new carbodiimide reagent, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide methiodide (ETC), which we show specifically modifies unpaired Gs and Us in vivo without substantial degradation of RNA. We establish ETC as a probe for MaP and optimize the RT conditions and computational analysis in Escherichia coli Importantly, we demonstrate the utility of ETC as a probe for improving RNA structure prediction both alone and with DMS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A Douds
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Paul Babitzke
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Philip C Bevilacqua
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Jolley EA, Bevilacqua PC. Single-cell probing of RNA structure. Nat Methods 2024; 21:377-378. [PMID: 38321343 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02178-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Jolley
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Philip C Bevilacqua
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Tong A, Caudill EE, Jones AR, F. M. Passalacqua L, Abdelsayed MM. Characterization of a FourU RNA Thermometer in the 5' Untranslated Region of Autolysin Gene blyA in the Bacillus subtilis 168 Prophage SPβ. Biochemistry 2023; 62:2902-2907. [PMID: 37699513 PMCID: PMC10586365 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.3c00368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023]
Abstract
RNA thermometers are noncoding RNA structures located in the 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes that regulate gene expression through temperature-dependent conformational changes. The fourU class of RNA thermometers contains a specific motif in which four consecutive uracil nucleotides are predicted to base pair with the Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence in a stem. We employed a bioinformatic search to discover a fourU RNA thermometer in the 5'-UTR of the blyA gene of the Bacillus subtilis phage SPβc2, a bacteriophage that infects B. subtilis 168. blyA encodes an autolysin enzyme, N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase, which is involved in the lytic life cycle of the SPβ prophage. We have biochemically validated the predicted RNA thermometer in the 5'-UTR of the blyA gene. Our study suggests that RNA thermometers may play an underappreciated yet critical role in the lytic life cycle of bacteriophages.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alina
Y. Tong
- Department
of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, United States
| | - Emma E. Caudill
- Department
of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, United States
| | - Alexis R. Jones
- Department
of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, United States
| | - Luiz F. M. Passalacqua
- Laboratory
of Nucleic Acids, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Michael M. Abdelsayed
- Department
of Biology, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, United States
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Williams AM, Jolley EA, Santiago-Martínez MG, Chan CX, Gutell RR, Ferry JG, Bevilacqua PC. In vivo structure probing of RNA in Archaea: novel insights into the ribosome structure of Methanosarcina acetivorans. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2023; 29:1610-1620. [PMID: 37491319 PMCID: PMC10578495 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079687.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
Structure probing combined with next-generation sequencing (NGS) has provided novel insights into RNA structure-function relationships. To date, such studies have focused largely on bacteria and eukaryotes, with little attention given to the third domain of life, archaea. Furthermore, functional RNAs have not been extensively studied in archaea, leaving open questions about RNA structure and function within this domain of life. With archaeal species being diverse and having many similarities to both bacteria and eukaryotes, the archaea domain has the potential to be an evolutionary bridge. In this study, we introduce a method for probing RNA structure in vivo in the archaea domain of life. We investigated the structure of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) from Methanosarcina acetivorans, a well-studied anaerobic archaeal species, grown with either methanol or acetate. After probing the RNA in vivo with dimethyl sulfate (DMS), Structure-seq2 libraries were generated, sequenced, and analyzed. We mapped the reactivity of DMS onto the secondary structure of the ribosome, which we determined independently with comparative analysis, and confirmed the accuracy of DMS probing in M. acetivorans Accessibility of the rRNA to DMS in the two carbon sources was found to be quite similar, although some differences were found. Overall, this study establishes the Structure-seq2 pipeline in the archaea domain of life and informs about ribosomal structure within M. acetivorans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Allison M Williams
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Jolley
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | | | - Cheong Xin Chan
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Robin R Gutell
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - James G Ferry
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Philip C Bevilacqua
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Pierlé SA, Lang M, López-Igual R, Krin E, Fourmy D, Kennedy SP, Val ME, Baharoglu Z, Mazel D. Identification of the active mechanism of aminoglycoside entry in V. cholerae through characterization of sRNA ctrR, regulating carbohydrate utilization and transport. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.07.19.549712. [PMID: 37502966 PMCID: PMC10370196 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.19.549712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The possible active entry of aminoglycosides in bacterial cells has been debated since the development of this antibiotic family. Here we report the identification of their active transport mechanism in Vibrio species. We combined genome-wide transcriptional analysis and fitness screens to identify alterations driven by treatment of V. cholerae with sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub-MIC) of the aminoglycoside tobramycin. RNA-seq data showed downregulation of the small non-coding RNA ncRNA586 during such treatment, while Tn-seq revealed that inactivation of this sRNA was associated with improved fitness in the presence of tobramycin. This sRNA is located near sugar transport genes and previous work on a homologous region in Vibrio tasmaniensis suggested that this sRNA stabilizes gene transcripts for carbohydrate transport and utilization, as well as phage receptors. The role for ncRNA586, hereafter named ctrR, in the transport of both carbohydrates and aminoglycosides, was further investigated. Flow cytometry on cells treated with a fluorescent aminoglycoside confirmed the role of ctrR and of carbohydrate transporters in differential aminoglycoside entry. Despite sequence diversity, ctrR showed functional conservation across the Vibrionales. This system in directly modulated by carbon sources, suggesting regulation by carbon catabolite repression, a widely conserved mechanism in Gram-negative bacteria, priming future research on aminoglycoside uptake by sugar transporters in other bacterial species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian A. Pierlé
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Manon Lang
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Rocío López-Igual
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Evelyne Krin
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Dominique Fourmy
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Sean P. Kennedy
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, USR 3756 CNRS, Department of Computational Biology, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Marie-Eve Val
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Zeynep Baharoglu
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Didier Mazel
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR3525, Unité Plasticité du Génome Bactérien, F-75015 Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Meyer MO, Choi S, Keating CD, Bevilacqua PC, Yamagami R. Structure-seq of tRNAs and other short RNAs in droplets and in vivo. Methods Enzymol 2023; 691:81-126. [PMID: 37914453 PMCID: PMC10917389 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2023.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
There is a multitude of small (<100nt) RNAs that serve diverse functional roles in biology. Key amongst these is transfer RNA (tRNA), which is among the most ancient RNAs and is part of the translational apparatus in every domain of life. Transfer RNAs are also the most heavily modified class of RNAs. They are essential and their misregulation, due to mutated sequences or loss of modification, can lead to disease. Because of the severe phenotypes associated with mitochondrial tRNA defects in particular, the desire to deliver repaired tRNAs via droplets such as lipid nanoparticles or other compartments is an active area of research. Here we describe how to use our tRNA Structure-seq method to study tRNAs and other small RNAs in two different biologically relevant contexts, peptide-rich droplets and in vivo.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- McCauley O. Meyer
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Saehyun Choi
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Christine D. Keating
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Philip C. Bevilacqua
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Ryota Yamagami
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan
| |
Collapse
|