Small regulatory RNA-induced growth rate heterogeneity of Bacillus subtilis

PLoS Genetics
Ruben A T MarsEmma L Denham

Abstract

Isogenic bacterial populations can consist of cells displaying heterogeneous physiological traits. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) could affect this heterogeneity since they act by fine-tuning mRNA or protein levels to coordinate the appropriate cellular behavior. Here we show that the sRNA RnaC/S1022 from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis can suppress exponential growth by modulation of the transcriptional regulator AbrB. Specifically, the post-transcriptional abrB-RnaC/S1022 interaction allows B. subtilis to increase the cell-to-cell variation in AbrB protein levels, despite strong negative autoregulation of the abrB promoter. This behavior is consistent with existing mathematical models of sRNA action, thus suggesting that induction of protein expression noise could be a new general aspect of sRNA regulation. Importantly, we show that the sRNA-induced diversity in AbrB levels generates heterogeneity in growth rates during the exponential growth phase. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the resulting subpopulations of fast- and slow-growing B. subtilis cells reflect a bet-hedging strategy for enhanced survival of unfavorable conditions.

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Citations

Mar 31, 2016·Microbial Cell Factories·Tina N PlossJan Maarten van Dijl
Apr 14, 2016·Current Biology : CB·Bram CerulusKevin J Verstrepen
Oct 28, 2016·Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews : MMBR·Ruben A T MarsJan Maarten van Dijl
Nov 3, 2017·Current Genetics·Elena Bidnenko, Vladimir Bidnenko
Aug 28, 2020·Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences·Inam Ul HaqSabine Brantl
Oct 11, 2020·BMC Research Notes·Nina El Najjar, Peter L Graumann
Feb 12, 2020·Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta. Gene Regulatory Mechanisms·Anne-Gaëlle PlansonMatthieu Jules
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Jun 20, 2018·Microbiology Spectrum·Anaïs Brosse, Maude Guillier
Jul 14, 2018·Microbiology Spectrum·Alexander J Westermann
Aug 7, 2021·Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology·Chaoyong LiaoBingkun Zhang

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
AL009126-3

Methods Mentioned

BETA
Flow Cytometry
PCR
in

Software Mentioned

COFFEE
R package stats
TargetRNA
RNAfold
Jalview
R
LocARNA
ImageJ
nBLAST
BLAST

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