In molecular biology, Cyanobacterial non-coding RNAs are non-coding RNAs which have been identified in species of

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

. Large scale screens have identified 21 Yfr (cYanobacterial functional RNAs) in the marine cyanobacterium '' Prochlorococcus'' and related species such as '' Synechococcus''. These include the

Yfr1 Yfr1 is a Cyanobacterial functional RNA that was identified by a comparative genome based screen for RNAs in cyanobacteria. Further analysis has shown that the RNA is well conserved and highly expressed in cyanobacteria. and is required for gr ...

and

Yfr2 Yfr2 (cYanobacterial functional RNA-2 later published as Cyano-1 RNA motif) is a family of non-coding RNAs. Members of the Yrf2 family have been identified in almost all studied species of cyanobacteria. The family was identified through a bioinf ...

RNAs. In ''Prochlorococcus'' and '' Synechocystis'', non-coding RNAs have been shown to regulate gene expression. NsiR4, widely conserved throughout the cyanobacterial phylum, has been shown to be involved in nitrogen assimilation control in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and in the filamentous, nitrogen-fixing Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. PsrR1 (photosynthesis regulatory RNA1), formerly known as Syr1 discovered in '' Synechocystis sp PCC 6803,'' is a regulatory factor controlling

photosynthetic Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in c ...

functions. Interactions between PsrR1 and the

ribosome Ribosomes ( ) are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to ...

binding regions of several photosynthesis-related mRNAs have been confirmed. In particular, it has been shown that ''psaL'' mRNA is processed by

RNase E Ribonuclease E is a bacterial ribonuclease that participates in the processing of ribosomal RNA (9S to 5S rRNA) and the chemical degradation of bulk cellular RNA. Cellular localization RNase E was suggested to be a part of the cell membrane ...

only in the presence of PsrR1.

References

{{reflist RNA Non-coding RNA

See also

References