The Escherichia coli translation-associated heat shock protein YbeY is involved in rRNA transcription antitermination.

A new group of translation-associated heat shock genes has been recently identified. One of these novel genes is ybeY which is highly conserved in bacteria. In Escherichia coli the YbeY protein is important for efficient translation at all temperatures and is essential at high temperatures. Deletion mutants of ybeY are defective in protein translation, due to impaired 30 S ribosomal subunits. Here we provide evidence which tie YbeY to the transcription antitermination process. Thus, in ybeY deletion mutants transcription is significantly inhibited when the "nut like" sequences required for transcriptional antitermination are present, while if these sequences are removed transcription is not affected by the mutation.