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Complete identity and expression of StfZ, the cis-antisense RNA to the mRNA of the cell division gene ftsZ, in Escherichia coli

Anand, Deepak LU orcid ; Jakkala, Kishor ; Nair, Rashmi Ravindran ; Sharan, Deepti ; Pradhan, Atul ; Mukkayyan, Nagaraja and Ajitkumar, Parthasarathi (2022) In Frontiers in Microbiology 13.
Abstract

Bacteria regulate FtsZ protein levels through transcriptional and translational mechanisms for proper cell division. A cis-antisense RNA, StfZ, produced from the ftsA-ftsZ intergenic region, was proposed to regulate FtsZ level in Escherichia coli. However, its structural identity remained unknown. In this study, we determined the complete sequence of StfZ and identified the isoforms and its promoters. We find that under native physiological conditions, StfZ is expressed at a 1:6 ratio of StfZ:ftsZ mRNA at all growth phases from three promoters as three isoforms of 366, 474, and 552 nt RNAs. Overexpression of StfZ reduces FtsZ protein level, increases cell length, and blocks cell division without affecting the ftsZ mRNA stability. We did... (More)

Bacteria regulate FtsZ protein levels through transcriptional and translational mechanisms for proper cell division. A cis-antisense RNA, StfZ, produced from the ftsA-ftsZ intergenic region, was proposed to regulate FtsZ level in Escherichia coli. However, its structural identity remained unknown. In this study, we determined the complete sequence of StfZ and identified the isoforms and its promoters. We find that under native physiological conditions, StfZ is expressed at a 1:6 ratio of StfZ:ftsZ mRNA at all growth phases from three promoters as three isoforms of 366, 474, and 552 nt RNAs. Overexpression of StfZ reduces FtsZ protein level, increases cell length, and blocks cell division without affecting the ftsZ mRNA stability. We did not find differential expression of StfZ under the stress conditions of heat shock, cold shock, or oxidative stress, or at any growth phase. These data indicated that the cis-encoded StfZ antisense RNA to ftsZ mRNA may be involved in the fine tuning of ftsZ mRNA levels available for translation as per the growth-phase-specific requirement at all phases of growth and cell division.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
cell division, Escherichia coli, FtsZ level, ftsZ mRNA, StfZ cis-antisense RNA
in
Frontiers in Microbiology
volume
13
article number
920117
pages
16 pages
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85141172004
  • pmid:36338044
ISSN
1664-302X
DOI
10.3389/fmicb.2022.920117
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c5229531-9dc4-4c73-bee0-c786eeccaab5
date added to LUP
2022-12-13 15:08:44
date last changed
2024-04-18 16:28:24
@article{c5229531-9dc4-4c73-bee0-c786eeccaab5,
  abstract     = {{<p>Bacteria regulate FtsZ protein levels through transcriptional and translational mechanisms for proper cell division. A cis-antisense RNA, StfZ, produced from the ftsA-ftsZ intergenic region, was proposed to regulate FtsZ level in Escherichia coli. However, its structural identity remained unknown. In this study, we determined the complete sequence of StfZ and identified the isoforms and its promoters. We find that under native physiological conditions, StfZ is expressed at a 1:6 ratio of StfZ:ftsZ mRNA at all growth phases from three promoters as three isoforms of 366, 474, and 552 nt RNAs. Overexpression of StfZ reduces FtsZ protein level, increases cell length, and blocks cell division without affecting the ftsZ mRNA stability. We did not find differential expression of StfZ under the stress conditions of heat shock, cold shock, or oxidative stress, or at any growth phase. These data indicated that the cis-encoded StfZ antisense RNA to ftsZ mRNA may be involved in the fine tuning of ftsZ mRNA levels available for translation as per the growth-phase-specific requirement at all phases of growth and cell division.</p>}},
  author       = {{Anand, Deepak and Jakkala, Kishor and Nair, Rashmi Ravindran and Sharan, Deepti and Pradhan, Atul and Mukkayyan, Nagaraja and Ajitkumar, Parthasarathi}},
  issn         = {{1664-302X}},
  keywords     = {{cell division; Escherichia coli; FtsZ level; ftsZ mRNA; StfZ cis-antisense RNA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Microbiology}},
  title        = {{Complete identity and expression of StfZ, the cis-antisense RNA to the mRNA of the cell division gene ftsZ, in Escherichia coli}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.920117}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fmicb.2022.920117}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}