The Rickettsia rpsL leader is a putative attenuator element identified by bioinformatics within

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

of the α-proteobacterial genus ''

Rickettsia ''Rickettsia'' is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long). The term "rickett ...

''. It is located upstream of the operon encoding

ribosomal protein A ribosomal protein (r-protein or rProtein) is any of the proteins that, in conjunction with rRNA, make up the ribosomal subunits involved in the cellular process of translation. ''E. coli'', other bacteria and Archaea have a 30S small subunit an ...

s S12 and S7 (''rpsL'' and ''rpsG'' genes respectively), and presents a Rho-independent terminator at the 3' end. This RNA is presumed to operate as a non-coding ribosomal protein leader potentially interacting with the S12 or S7 proteins, encoded by the operon. The motif might be related to other rpsL leaders, such as that from ''Pseudomonas''.

References

External links

*{{Rfam, id=RF01774, name=Rickettsia rpsL leader Cis-regulatory RNA elements