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The widespread CsrA/RsmA protein regulators repress translation by binding GGA motifs in bacterial mRNAs. CsrA activity is primarily controlled through sequestration by multiple small regulatory RNAs. Here we investigate CsrA activity control in the absence of antagonizing small RNAs by examining the CsrA regulon in the human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. We use genome-wide co-immunoprecipitation combined with RNA sequencing to show that CsrA primarily binds flagellar mRNAs and identify the major flagellin mRNA (flaA) as the main CsrA target. The flaA mRNA is translationally repressed by CsrA, but it can also titrate CsrA activity. Together with the main C. jejuni CsrA antagonist, the FliW protein, flaA mRNA controls CsrA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation of other flagellar genes. RNA-FISH reveals that flaA mRNA is expressed and localized at the poles of elongating cells. Polar flaA mRNA localization is translation dependent and is post-transcriptionally regulated by the CsrA-FliW network. Overall, our results suggest a role for CsrA-FliW in spatiotemporal control of flagella assembly and localization of a dual-function mRNA.
Microcin C (McC) is a peptide-nucleotide antibiotic produced by Escherichia coli cells harboring a plasmid-borne operon mccABCDE. The heptapeptide MccA is converted into McC by adenylation catalyzed by the MccB enzyme. Since MccA is a substrate for MccB, a mechanism that regulates the MccA/MccB ratio likely exists. Here, we show that transcription from a promoter located upstream of mccA directs the synthesis of two transcripts: a short highly abundant transcript containing the mccA ORF and a longer minor transcript containing mccA and downstream ORFs. The short transcript is generated when RNA polymerase terminates transcription at an intrinsic terminator located in the intergenic region between the mccA and mccB genes. The function of this terminator is strongly attenuated by upstream mcc sequences. Attenuation is relieved and transcription termination is induced when ribosome binds to the mccA ORF. Ribosome binding also makes the mccA RNA exceptionally stable. Together, these two effects-ribosome induced transcription termination and stabilization of the message-account for very high abundance of the mccA transcript that is essential for McC production. The general scheme appears to be evolutionary conserved as ribosome-induced transcription termination also occurs in a homologous operon from Helicobacter pylori.