Prevention of cross-talk in conserved regulatory systems: identification of specificity determinants in RNA-binding anti-termination proteins of the BglG family.

ABSTRACT: Each family of signal transduction systems requires specificity determinants that link individual signals to the correct regulatory output. In Bacillus subtilis, a family of four anti-terminator proteins controls the expression of genes for the utilisation of alternative sugars. These regulatory systems contain the anti-terminator proteins and a RNA structure, the RNA anti-terminator (RAT) that is bound by the anti-terminator proteins. We have studied three of these proteins (SacT, SacY, and LicT) to understand how they can transmit a specific signal in spite of their strong structural homology. A screen for random mutations that render SacT capable to bind a RNA structure recognized by LicT only revealed a substitution (P26S) at one of the few non-conserved residues that are in contact wi

SUBMITTER: Hubner S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3105407 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature