Revealing the many roles of RNA in regulating gene expression
For decades after the discoveries of messenger RNA, transfer RNA, and ribosomal RNA, it was largely assumed that the role of RNA in the cell was limited to shuttling the genomic message, chaperoning amino acids, and toiling in the ribosomes.
Eventually, hints that RNA molecules might have regulatory roles began to appear. With the advent of genomics and bioinformatics, it became evident that numerous other RNA forms exist and have specific functions, including small RNAs (sRNA), RNA thermometers, and riboswitches to regulate core metabolic pathways, bacterial pathogenesis, iron homeostasis, quorum sensing, and biofilm formation.
All of these functions, and more, are presented in Regulating with RNA in Bacteria and Archaea, written by RNA biologists from around the globe. Divided into eight sections-RNases and Helicases, Cis-Acting RNAs, Cis Encoded Base Pairing RNAs, Trans-Encoded Base Pairing RNAs, Protein Titration and Scaffolding, General Considerations, Emerging Topics, and Resources-this book serves as an excellent resource for established RNA biologists and for the many scientists who are studying regulated cellular systems.
It is no longer a fair assumption that gene expression regulation is the provenance of proteins only or that control is exerted primarily at the level of transcription. This book makes clear that regulatory RNAs are key partners along with proteins in controlling the complex interactions and pathways found within prokaryotes.
About the Author: Gisela Storz is an NIH Distinguished Investigator in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland. She carried out graduate work with Dr. Bruce Ames at the University of California, Berkeley and postdoctoral work with Dr. Sankar Adhya at the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Fred Ausubel at Harvard Medical School. As a result of the serendipitous discovery of the peroxide-induced OxyS RNA in E. coli, one of the first small, regulatory RNAs to be found, much of the work in her lab has focused on the genome-wide identification of small RNAs and their characterization.
Kai Papenfort is a Professor of Microbiology at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. He received a diploma in biology from the University of Marburg and carried out graduate work with Dr. Jörg Vogel at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology and the Humboldt University of Berlin. In his postdoctoral work at the University of Würzburg and Princeton University, Dr. Papenfort studied the regulatory functions of small RNA in bacterial pathogens and their involvement in bacterial communication processes such as quorum sensing. His laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation by small RNAs in the major human pathogen, Vibrio cholerae.
