Multiple roles of RNase Y in Streptococcus pyogenes mRNA metabolism

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A streptococcus, GAS) is an important human pathogen that causes a variety of infectious diseases and sequelae. Recent studies showed virulence factor expression was controlled at multiple levels, including the post-transcriptional regulation. In this study, we examined the global half-lives of S. pyogenes mRNAs and explored the role RNase Y played in mRNA metabolism with microarray analysis. key word: genetic modification Streptococcus pyogenes NZ131 wild-type cells and Δrny strains were grown in C-medium until late exponential phase. Rifampicin was added to the cell culture and samples were collected before and after rifampicin addition. The transcriptional profile of the whole genome before and after rifampicin addition was examined with microarray. Please note that mRNA decay assay resulted in considerable variations in the datasets. Samples were taken after rifampicin addition and subsequent incubation for different time intervals. During that time no new RNA is produced and the remaining RNA is degraded to various degrees.