SR7 - a dual function antisense RNA from Bacillus subtilis

Here, we describe SR7, a dual-function antisense RNA from the Bacillus subtilis chromosome. This RNA was earlier published as the SigB-dependent regulatory RNA S1136 and reported to reduce the amount of the small ribosomal subunit under ethanol stress. We found that the 5 portion of SR7 encodes a small protein composed of 39 amino acids which we designated SR7P. It is translated from a 185 nt SigB-dependent mRNA under five different stress conditions and a longer SigB-independent RNA constitutively. Two- to three-fold higher amounts of SR7P were detected in B. subtilis cells exposed to salt, ethanol or heat stress. Co-elution experiments with SR7PC-FLAG and Far-Western blotting demonstrated that SR7P interacts with the glycolytic enzyme enolase. Enolase is a scaffolding component of the B. subtilis degradosome where it interacts with RNase Y and phosphofructokinase PfkA. We found that SR7P increases the amount of RNase Y bound to enolase without affecting PfkA. RNA does not bridge the SR7P-enolase-RNase Y interaction. In vitro-degradation assays with the known RNase Y substrates yitJ and rpsO mRNA revealed enhanced enzymatic activity of enolase-bound RNase Y in the presence of SR7P. Northern blots showed a major effect of enolase and a minor effect of SR7P on the half-life of rpsO mRNA indicating a fine-tuning role of SR7P in RNA degradation. Moreover, SR7P impacts survival of B. subtilis under stress conditions. We suggest that the SR7P-dependent modification of the degradosome affects targets in different physiological pathways.