Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K4117666"

Revision as of 06:48, 12 October 2022

RNA Thermometer (U23-)

This part is an RNA thermometer that can be used for temperature-sensitive post-transcriptional regulation. Translation is initiated at 37°C and suppressed below 37℃.The image shows the secondary structure of the part after ligation to a protein coding part at 28℃, as predicted by NUPACK.

Microorganisms are constantly exposed to changing environmental conditions, and to avoid dangerous consequences, bacteria build a complex network of protective mechanisms. Among them are temperature-sensing RNA molecules, called "RNA thermometers," which operate in different natural environments to mediate cellular behaviors such as heat-shock responses and pathogenesis. RNA thermometers operate by a number of mechanisms, each of which depends on temperature-dependent conformational changes. The simplest RNA thermometer consists of an RNA sequence containing a ribosome binding site. At permissive temperatures, ribosomes can access this RBS, and translation can proceed efficiently. At the restrictive temperature, the RNA sequence folds to inhibit translation. The RBS response to temperature was designed according to the melting temperature of the minimum free energy structure, where increasing stem length, smaller hairpin rings or reduced number of bulges resulted in higher melting temperature.