Genome sequence of Pediococcus pentosaceus TOKAI 10m, studies on strain-specific functions.

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are a diverse class of non-coding RNAs, typically ranging from 50 to 500 nucleotides in length, that play crucial roles in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in bacteria. These molecules often act by base-pairing with target mRNAs, influencing translation efficiency and mRNA stability, and thus enabling bacteria to rapidly adapt to environmental changes. In addition to mRNA regulation, some sRNAs interact with proteins to modulate their activity, further broadening their functional repertoire. Our previous study indicated that Pediococcus pentosaceus TOKAI 10m (TK 10m) produces functional sRNAs (Y. Nakashima et.al., 2020). However, in the above studies, the entire genome of this strain had not been read, and analysis of sRNA expression levels had to rely on a reference genome in the database. Therefore, in this experiment, we performed whole-genome sequencing of TK 10m. In the future, we plan to reanalyze the expression levels of sRNAs in TK 10m, as well as search for genes involved in the expression of these sRNAs.