Protein-mRNA Interactions in the Control of Central Carbon Metabolism in Bacillus subtilis

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Regulation of metabolism has so far mainly been studied at the levels of gene regulation by DNA-binding transcription factors and enzymatic activity control. However, glycolysis in Bacillus subtilis is also regulated by distinct protein-RNA interactions that control either mRNA processing, stability and differential expression of proteins encoded in a single operon or transcription elongation via a termination/antitermination mechanism. We intend to study mRNA processing of the B. subtilis gapA operon encoding the enzymes for triose phosphate interconversions in glycolysis. We plan to study the role of the two newly discovered RNases J in the processing of the gapA operon mRNA. The first step in glycolysis, glucose transport and phophorylation, is controlled by a protein-dependent RNA switch in B. subtilis. We want to understand the molecular details of the reconnaissance between the protein, GlcT, and its RNA target sequence. This will be addressed by crystallographic and genetic approaches. Moreover, we wish to study the intramolecular signal transduction process in GlcT that links glucose availability and RNA binding activity to the expression or not of the ptsGHI operon.