Variable coordination of cotranscribed genes in Escherichia coli following antisense repression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A majority of bacterial genes belong to tight clusters and operons, which complicates gene functional studies using conventional knock-out methods. Antisense agents can down-regulate the expression of genes without disrupting the genome because they bind mRNA and block its expression. However, it is unclear how antisense inhibition affects expression from genes that are cotranscribed with the target.

Results

To examine the effects of antisense inhibition on cotranscribed genes, we constructed a plasmid expressing the two reporter genes gfp and DsRed as one transcriptional unit. Incubation with antisense peptide nucleic acid (PNA) targeted to the mRNA start codon region of either the upstream gfp or the downstream DsRed gene resulted in a complete expression discoo

SUBMITTER: Dryselius R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1661596 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature