Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures

We report here the finding of a highly significant inverse correlation of the uracil content of 16S rRNA and the optimum growth temperature (T(opt)) of cultured thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes. This correlation was significantly different from the weaker correlations between the contents...

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Autores principales: Khachane, Amit N., Timmis, Kenneth N., dos Santos, Vítor A. P. Martins
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1179731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16030352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gki714
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author Khachane, Amit N.
Timmis, Kenneth N.
dos Santos, Vítor A. P. Martins
author_facet Khachane, Amit N.
Timmis, Kenneth N.
dos Santos, Vítor A. P. Martins
author_sort Khachane, Amit N.
collection PubMed
description We report here the finding of a highly significant inverse correlation of the uracil content of 16S rRNA and the optimum growth temperature (T(opt)) of cultured thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes. This correlation was significantly different from the weaker correlations between the contents of other nucleotides and T(opt). Analysis of the 16S rRNA secondary structure regions revealed a fall in the A:U base-pair content in step with the increase in T(opt) that was much steeper than that of mismatched base-pairs, which are thermodynamically less stable. These findings indicate that the 16S rRNA sequences of thermophiles and psychrophiles are under a strong thermo-adaptive pressure, and that structure–function constraints play a crucial role in determining their 16S rRNA nucleotide composition. The derived relationship between uracil content and T(opt) was used to develop an algorithm to predict the T(opt) values of uncultured prokaryotes lacking cultured close relatives and belonging to the phyla predominantly containing thermophiles. This algorithm may be useful in guiding the design of cultivation conditions for hitherto uncultured microbes.
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spelling pubmed-11797312005-07-22 Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures Khachane, Amit N. Timmis, Kenneth N. dos Santos, Vítor A. P. Martins Nucleic Acids Res Article We report here the finding of a highly significant inverse correlation of the uracil content of 16S rRNA and the optimum growth temperature (T(opt)) of cultured thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes. This correlation was significantly different from the weaker correlations between the contents of other nucleotides and T(opt). Analysis of the 16S rRNA secondary structure regions revealed a fall in the A:U base-pair content in step with the increase in T(opt) that was much steeper than that of mismatched base-pairs, which are thermodynamically less stable. These findings indicate that the 16S rRNA sequences of thermophiles and psychrophiles are under a strong thermo-adaptive pressure, and that structure–function constraints play a crucial role in determining their 16S rRNA nucleotide composition. The derived relationship between uracil content and T(opt) was used to develop an algorithm to predict the T(opt) values of uncultured prokaryotes lacking cultured close relatives and belonging to the phyla predominantly containing thermophiles. This algorithm may be useful in guiding the design of cultivation conditions for hitherto uncultured microbes. Oxford University Press 2005 2005-07-19 /pmc/articles/PMC1179731/ /pubmed/16030352 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gki714 Text en © The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
spellingShingle Article
Khachane, Amit N.
Timmis, Kenneth N.
dos Santos, Vítor A. P. Martins
Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title_full Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title_fullStr Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title_full_unstemmed Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title_short Uracil content of 16S rRNA of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
title_sort uracil content of 16s rrna of thermophilic and psychrophilic prokaryotes correlates inversely with their optimal growth temperatures
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1179731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16030352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gki714
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