Riboswitches: Ancient and Promising Genetic Regulators

Bait and switch: Metabolite-sensing riboswitches make use of RNA structural modulation to regulate gene expression, as illustrated in the scheme, in response to subtle changes in metabolite concentrations. This review describes the current knowledge about naturally occurring riboswitches and their g...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology 2009-02, Vol.10 (3), p.400-416
Main Authors: Blouin, Simon, Mulhbacher, Jérôme, Penedo, J. Carlos, Lafontaine, Daniel A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
antimicrobial agents
Aptamers, Nucleotide - chemistry
Aptamers, Nucleotide - genetics
Aptamers, Nucleotide - metabolism
Base Sequence
Gene Expression Regulation
gene regulation mechanisms
Molecular Sequence Data
Molecular Structure
Nucleic Acid Conformation
Protein Biosynthesis
riboswitches
ribozymes
RNA - chemistry
RNA - genetics
RNA - metabolism
RNA Splicing
RNA Stability
RNA-ligand interactions
Transcription, Genetic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Bait and switch: Metabolite-sensing riboswitches make use of RNA structural modulation to regulate gene expression, as illustrated in the scheme, in response to subtle changes in metabolite concentrations. This review describes the current knowledge about naturally occurring riboswitches and their growing potential as antibacterial cellular targets and as molecular biosensors.Newly discovered metabolite-sensing riboswitches have revealed that cellular processes extensively make use of RNA structural modulation to regulate gene expression in response to subtle changes in metabolite concentrations. Riboswitches are involved at various regulation levels of gene expression, such as transcription attenuation, translation initiation, mRNA splicing and mRNA processing. Riboswitches are found in the three kingdoms of life, and in various cases, are involved in the regulation of essential genes, which makes their regulation an essential part of cell survival. Because riboswitches operate without the assistance of accessory proteins, they are believed to be remnants of an ancient time, when gene regulation was strictly based on RNA, from which are left numerous "living molecular fossils", as exemplified by ribozymes, and more spectacularly, by the ribosome. Due to their nature, riboswitches hold high expectations for the manipulation of gene expression and the detection of small metabolites, and also offer an unprecedented potential for the discovery of novel classes of antimicrobial agents.
ISSN:1439-4227
1439-7633
DOI:10.1002/cbic.200800593