A small RNA regulates pprM, a modulator of pleiotropic proteins promoting DNA repair, in Deinococcus radiodurans under ionizing radiation

This study tracks the proteome during recovery from 10 kGy acute ionizing radiation (IR) in Deinococcus radiodurans R1 (WT). After 1 hour of recovery post-IR exposure, we observed 37 proteins significantly differentially expressed, including several within the Radiation and Dessication Response (RDR) pathway. Additionally, we also explored the regulatory network of a sRNA named PprS (previously Dsr2) in Deinococcus radiodurans by comparing the proteome of a sRNA knockdown strain (PprSKD, which demonstrates a ~2-fold decrease in PprS expression) to WT D. radiodurans during unirradiated conditions at late-exponential phase. Comparison between these two strains demonstrated decreased levels of one of PprS's targets, PprM, in the PprSKD strain which validated the activation mechanism we propose for PprS on pprM.