Design of simple synthetic RNA thermometers for temperature-controlled gene expression in Escherichia coli
Design of simple synthetic RNA thermometers for temperature-controlled gene expression in Escherichia coli
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DOI：
10.1093/nar/gkn545
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发表时间：
2008-11-01
影响因子：
14.9
通讯作者：
Bock, Ralph
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Neupert, Juliane;Karcher, Daniel;Bock, Ralph
RNA 温度计是一种热传感器，通过温度引起的 RNA 构象变化来调节基因表达。天然存在的 RNA 温度计表现出复杂的二级结构，据信这些结构会随着温度变化而发生一系列逐渐的结构变化。在这里，我们报告了相当简单的 RNA 温度计的从头设计，它提供了有用的纯 RNA 工具，通过改变生长温度来调节细菌基因表达。我们证明，含有核糖体结合位点的单个小茎环结构足以构建在生理温度下有效工作的合成 RNA 温度计。我们的数据表明，温度计通过简单的熔化机制发挥作用，从而提供最小尺寸的开关，以通过温度在实验上诱导或抑制基因表达。
RNA thermometers are thermosensors that regulate gene expression by temperature-induced changes in RNA conformation. Naturally occurring RNA thermometers exhibit complex secondary structures which are believed to undergo a series of gradual structural changes in response to temperature shifts. Here, we report the de novo design of considerably simpler RNA thermometers that provide useful RNA-only tools to regulate bacterial gene expression by a shift in the growth temperature. We show that a single small stem-loop structure containing the ribosome binding site is sufficient to construct synthetic RNA thermometers that work efficiently at physiological temperatures. Our data suggest that the thermometers function by a simple melting mechanism and thus provide minimum size on/off switches to experimentally induce or repress gene expression by temperature.