Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry and Grassland, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.
School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Ningxia, China.
NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2024 Oct 29;10(1):115. doi: 10.1038/s41522-024-00586-6.
Currently, almost all known regulators involved in bacterial phosphorus metabolism are proteins. In this study, we identified a conserved new small regulatory RNA (sRNA), named PhoS, encoded in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the phoPR genes in Bacillus velezensis and B. subtilis. Expression of phoS is strongly induced upon phosphorus scarcity and stimulated by the transcription factor PhoP. Conversely, PhoS positively regulates PhoP translation by binding to the ribosome binding site (RBS) of phoP mRNA. PhoS can promote Bacillus biofilm formation through, at least in part, enhancing the expression of the matrix-related genes, such as the eps genes and the tapA-sipW-tasA operon. The positive regulation of phoP expression by PhoS contributes to the promoting effect of PhoS on biofilm formation. sRNAs regulating biofilm formation have rarely been reported in gram-positive Bacillus species. Here we highlight the significance of sRNAs involved in two important biological processes: phosphate metabolism and biofilm formation.
目前，几乎所有已知参与细菌磷代谢的调节剂都是蛋白质。在这项研究中，我们在芽孢杆菌和枯草芽孢杆菌的 phoPR 基因的 3'非翻译区（UTR）中鉴定出一个保守的新的小调控 RNA（sRNA），命名为 PhoS。当磷缺乏时，phoS 的表达被强烈诱导，并受到转录因子 PhoP 的刺激。相反，PhoS 通过结合 phoP mRNA 的核糖体结合位点（RBS）正向调节 PhoP 的翻译。PhoS 可以通过至少部分增强与基质相关的基因（如 eps 基因和 tapA-sipW-tasA 操纵子）的表达来促进芽孢杆菌生物膜的形成。PhoS 对 phoP 表达的正调控有助于 PhoS 对生物膜形成的促进作用。在革兰氏阳性芽孢杆菌中，很少有报道 sRNA 调节生物膜形成。在这里，我们强调了参与两个重要生物学过程（磷酸盐代谢和生物膜形成）的 sRNA 的重要性。
