The ''potC'' RNA motif is a conserved

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

structure discovered using

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...

. The RNA is detected only in

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

sequences derived from DNA that was extracted from uncultivated

marine bacteria Marine prokaryotes are marine bacteria and marine archaea. They are defined by their habitat as prokaryotes that live in marine environments, that is, in the saltwater of seas or oceans or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. All cellular ...

. Thus, this RNA is present in environmental samples, but not yet found in any cultivated organism. ''potC'' RNAs are located in the presumed

5' untranslated region The 5′ untranslated region (also known as 5′ UTR, leader sequence, transcript leader, or leader RNA) is the region of a messenger RNA (mRNA) that is directly Upstream and downstream (DNA), upstream from the initiation codon. This region is im ...

s of

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

s predicted to encode either

membrane transport protein A membrane transport protein (or simply transporter) is a membrane protein involved in the movement of ions, small molecules, and macromolecules, such as another protein, across a biological membrane. Transport proteins are integral transmembran ...

s or

peroxiredoxin Peroxiredoxins (Prxs, ; HGNC root symbol ''PRDX'') are a ubiquitous family of antioxidant enzymes that also control cytokine-induced peroxide levels and thereby mediate signal transduction in mammalian cells. The family members in humans are PRDX ...

s. Therefore, it was hypothesized that ''potC'' RNAs are

cis-regulatory element ''Cis''-regulatory elements (CREs) or ''Cis''-regulatory modules (CRMs) are regions of non-coding DNA which regulate the transcription of neighboring genes. CREs are vital components of genetic regulatory networks, which in turn control morphoge ...

s, but their detailed function is unknown. A number of other RNAs were identified in the same study, including: *

Lacto-usp RNA motif The Lacto-''usp'' RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure identified in bacteria by bioinformatics. Lacto-''usp'' RNAs are found exclusively in lactic acid bacteria, and exclusively in the possible 5′ untranslated regions of (5′ UTRs) opero ...

mraW RNA motif The ''mraW'' RNA motif is a conserved, structured RNA found in certain bacteria. Specifically, it is predicted in many, though not all, species of actinobacteria, and especially within the genus ''Mycobacterium''. Structurally, the motif co ...

Ocean-V RNA motif The Ocean-V RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure discovered using bioinformatics. Only a few Ocean-V RNA sequences have been detected, all in sequences derived from DNA that was extracted from uncultivated bacteria found in ocean The ...

psaA RNA motif The ''psaA'' RNA motif describes a class of RNAs with a common secondary structure. ''psaA'' RNAs are exclusively found in locations that presumably correspond to the 5' untranslated regions of operons formed of ''psaA'' and ''psaB'' genes. F ...

Pseudomon-Rho RNA motif The ''Pseudomon''-Rho RNA motif refers to a conserved RNA structure that was discovered using bioinformatics. The RNAs that conform to this motif (see diagram) are found in species within the genus ''Pseudomonas'', as well as the related ''Az ...

rne-II RNA motif The ''rne''-II RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure identified using bioinformatics. It is detected only in species classified within the family Pseudomonadaceae, a group of gammaproteobacteria. ''rne''-II RNAs are consistently located in ...

STAXI RNA motif The Ssbp, Topoisomerase, Antirestriction, XerDC Integrase RNA motif (STAXI RNA motif) is a conserved RNA-like structure identified using bioinformatics. STAXI RNAs are located near to genes encoding proteins that interact with DNA (Ssbp, topoi ...

TwoAYGGAY RNA motif The TwoAYGGAY RNA motif is a conserved RNA structure identified by bioinformatics. Its name refers to the conserved AYGGAY nucleotide sequence (Y refers to either a C or U nucleotide) found in the motif's two terminal loops (see diagram). The ...

Whalefall-1 RNA motif The Whalefall-1 RNA motif (also called wf-1) refers to a conserved RNA structure that was discovered using bioinformatics. Structurally, the motif consists of two stem-loops (see diagram), the second of which is often terminated by a CUUG tetr ...

wcaG RNA motif The ''wcaG'' RNA motif is an RNA structure conserved in some bacteria that was detected by bioinformatics. ''wcaG'' RNAs are found in certain phages that infect cyanobacteria. Most known ''wcaG'' RNAs were found in sequences of DNA extracted ...

ykkC-yxkD leader The ykkC/yxkD leader is a conserved sequence, conserved Cis-regulatory element, RNA structure found Upstream and downstream (DNA), upstream of the ykkC and yxkD genes in ''Bacillus subtilis'' and related genes in other bacteria. The function of t ...

References

External links

* Cis-regulatory RNA elements {{molecular-cell-biology-stub