DNA sequencing coverage in wild type and RNase H deficient Bacillus subtilis cells [2]

RNA-DNA hybrids form throughout the chromosome during normal cell growth and under stress conditions. When left unresolved, RNA-DNA hybrids can slow replication fork progression, cause DNA breaks, increase mutagenesis, and reduce gene expression. To remove hybrids, all organisms use ribonuclease H (RNase H) to specifically degrade the RNA portion of RNA-DNA hybrids. Here we show that, in addition to chromosomally encoded RNase HII and RNase HIII, Bacillus subtilis NCIB 3610 encodes a previously uncharacterized RNase HI protein, RnhP, on the endogenous plasmid pBS32. Like other RNase HI enzymes, RnhP incises Okazaki fragments, ribopatches, and a complementary RNA-DNA hybrid. We show that while chromosomally encoded RNase HIII is required for pBS32 hyper-replication, RnhP compensates for loss of RNase HIII activity on the chromosome. Consequently, loss of RnhP and RNase HIII impairs bacterial growth. We show that the decreased growth rate can be explained by laggard replication fork progression near the terminus region of the right replichore resulting in SOS-dependent inhibition of cell division. We conclude that B. subtilis NCIB 3610 encodes functional RNase HI, HII, and HIII, and pBS32-encoded RNase HI contributes to replication fork progression and chromosome stability while RNase HIII is important for chromosome stability and plasmid hyper-replication. Assessment of sequencing coverage across the chromosome for WT and RNase H deficient cells in a ppsA-E deletion background