analysis of convergent gene transcripts in the obligate intracellular bacterium rickettsia prowazekii分析收敛专性胞内细菌的基因转录立克次氏体prowazekii.pdfVIP

Analysis of Convergent Gene Transcripts in the Obligate Intracellular Bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii Andrew Woodard, David O. Wood* Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Alabama College of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama, United States of America Abstract Termination of transcription is an important component of bacterial gene expression. However, little is known concerning this process in the obligate intracellular pathogen and model for reductive evolution, Rickettsia prowazekii. To assess transcriptional termination in this bacterium, transcripts of convergent gene pairs, some containing predicted intrinsic terminators, were analyzed. These analyses revealed that, rather than terminating at a specific site within the intervening region between the convergent genes, most of the transcripts demonstrated either a lack of termination within this region, which generated antisense RNA, or a putative non-site-specific termination that occurred throughout the intervening sequence. Transcripts terminating at predicted intrinsic terminators, as well as at a putative Rho-dependant terminator, were also examined and found to vary based on the rickettsial host environment. These results suggest that transcriptional termination, or lack thereof, plays a role in rickettsial gene regulation. Citation: Woodard A, Wood DO (2011) Analysis of Convergent Gene Transcripts in the Obligate Intracellular Bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii. PLoS ONE 6(1): e16537. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016537 Editor: Samithamby Jeyaseelan, Louisiana State University, United States of America Received November 2, 2010; Accepted December 21, 2010; Published January 26, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Woodard, Wood. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits u