Structure and mechanism of the T-box riboswitches.

ABSTRACT: In most Gram-positive bacteria, including many clinically devastating pathogens from genera such as Bacillus, Clostridium, Listeria, and Staphylococcus, T-box riboswitches sense and regulate intracellular availability of amino acids through a multipartite messenger RNA (mRNA)-transfer RNA (tRNA) interaction. The T-box mRNA leaders respond to nutrient starvation by specifically binding cognate tRNAs and sensing whether the bound tRNA is aminoacylated, as a proxy for amino acid availability. Based on this readout, T-boxes direct a transcriptional or translational switch to control the expression of downstream genes involved in various aspects of amino acid metabolism: biosynthesis, transport, aminoacylation, transamidation, and so forth. Two decades after its discovery, the structural and me

SUBMITTER: Zhang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4478136 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature