Degradation of the Bacillus subtilis xynA transcript is accelerated in response to stress.

A popular method for the investigation of transcriptional regulation of gene expression is direct measurement of mRNA levels. As an internal control the level of a transcript from a constitutively expressed gene is often determined. To measure the induction rate of stress-responsive genes from Bacillus subtilis the transcript of the constitutively expressed xynA gene was used as a control. But the results presented in this communication prove that the degradation rate of the xynA transcript rises considerably in response to different kinds of stress. This response to stress is not dependent on protein biosynthesis.