Spatiotemporal organization of the E. coli transcriptome: Translation-independence and engagement in regulation

We found that a significant portion of E. coli transcriptome is asymmetrically distributed. Inhibition of translation did not alter the distribution pattern of many mRNAs. sRNAs accumulated at cell poles during envelope stress. We demonstrated that localization of sRNAs was mediated by HFq. Mutations in Hfq that affected its binding with sRNA or their mRNA target did not disrupt its redistribution at cell poles during envelope stress. Genomic loci encoding membrane transcript bglF favored its localization to membrane.

我们发现，大肠杆菌（E. coli）的转录组有相当一部分呈不对称分布。翻译抑制并未改变众多信使RNA（mRNA）的分布模式。在包膜应激过程中，小RNA（sRNAs）会在细胞极区聚集。我们证实，小RNA的定位由HFq介导。若HFq发生突变且该突变会影响其与小RNA或其信使RNA靶点的结合，则此类突变不会破坏其在包膜应激过程中于细胞极区的重新分布。编码膜转录本bglF的基因组位点，其转录产物更倾向于定位于细胞膜。