Novick R P, Iordanescu S, Projan S J, Kornblum J, Edelman I
Public Health Research Institute, New York, New York 10016.
Cell. 1989 Oct 20;59(2):395-404. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90300-0.
pT181 is the prototype of a family of staphylococcal plasmids that regulate their replication by means of antisense RNAs (countertranscripts) that block expression of the plasmid-coded initiator protein. In this paper, we show that the pT181 countertranscripts induce premature termination (attenuation) of the initiator mRNA by promoting the formation of a termination-causing hairpin just 5' to the initiator start codon. In the absence of the countertranscripts, an upstream sequence, the preemptor, pairs with the proximal arm of the terminator hairpin, preventing termination and permitting transcription of the initiator gene. This system thus differs from the classical attenuators in that attenuation is driven by antisense RNAs rather than by tRNA-induced stalling of ribosomes.
pT181是一类葡萄球菌质粒家族的原型，该家族通过反义RNA（反转录本）调节其复制，这些反义RNA会阻断质粒编码的起始蛋白的表达。在本文中，我们表明pT181反转录本通过促进在起始密码子上游5'处形成导致终止的发夹结构，诱导起始mRNA的提前终止（衰减）。在没有反转录本的情况下，一个上游序列，即抢先序列，与终止发夹的近端臂配对，阻止终止并允许起始基因的转录。因此，该系统与经典衰减子不同，因为衰减是由反义RNA驱动的，而不是由tRNA诱导的核糖体停滞驱动的。
