RNase III-dependent microaerobic transcriptome in Sinorhizobium meliloti

To investigate the influence of the double-stranded endoribonuclease RNase III on the symbiotic transcriptome of the alfalfa symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti, we profiled changes in transcript abundance in the wild-type strain and an rnc knockout mutant. Bacteria were cultured under aerobic and microaerobic conditions, the latter mimicking those prevailing in symbiotic root nodules. Total bacterial RNA was prepared from three independent cultures of both strains in each condition. Strand-specific cDNA libraries were generated from each of the 12 RNA samples, and further sequenced on the Illumina NextSeq Mid 500 platform to render paired-end reads (2 x 75 pb).