Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Bacteria live in environments containing complex ecologies of other microbes that communicate and survive through the action of a variety of small metabolic compounds. One common yet relatively unstudied metabolite is guanidine. Although it can be toxic to cells, recent studies have revealed that guanidine may function as a cellular metabolite through a specialized RNA sequence known as a riboswitch. Within our overall project on improving algal productivity, the focus of this study is to: (a) describe various guanidine riboswitch sequences in bacteria that interact with biofuel producing algae; and (b) determine if guanidine has a positive or negative influence on the growth of the bacteria containing these riboswitches. Over 2,000 species across four phyla of bacteria contain genes that help overcome guanidine toxicity. Recently it was discovered that guanidine, a small molecule with three nitrogen linked to a single carbon, regulates some of these genes by specific interactions with a segment of mRNA called a riboswitch. In this investigation, we used the largely uncharacterized cyanobacterium ESFC-1, and others across the four phyla, that contain the guanidine riboswitch, of which there are two subtypes. Both of these two subtypes regulate expression of proteins involved in the export and modification of guanidine inside the bacterial cell. Genome sequence analysis of our guanidine riboswitches indicate that our test bacteria differ in four key highly conserved residues for a guanidine-binding pocket in the model riboswitch. However, structures of the riboswitches may be similar, indicating their functions and guanidine-binding capabilities may be similar.
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2929151016