Abstract 1524 Transcriptome-wide analysis of E. coli small RNA binding site accessibility in target mRNAs

Bacteria employ many RNA-based mechanisms to regulate gene expression in response to environmental changes. Hfq-associated small RNAs (sRNAs) are widely used across bacterial phyla to regulate homeostasis, virulence, and antibiotic resistance. Hfq facilitates the base pairing of each sRNA with multiple target mRNAs to alter the expression of the corresponding gene. Features of the sRNA-mRNA interaction, such as length and stability, as well as the mode of Hfq binding, vary significantly within a targetome and between the targetomes of different sRNAs.