Dual-level autoregulation of the E. coli DeaD RNA helicase via mRNA stability and Rho-dependent transcription termination

DEAD-box proteins (DBPs) are RNA remodeling factors associated with RNA helicase activity that are found in nearly all organisms. Despite extensive studies on the mechanisms used by DBPs to regulate RNA function, very little is known about how DBPs themselves are regulated. In this work, we have analyzed the expression and regulation of DeaD/CsdA, the largest of the DBPs in Escherichia coli (E. coli). We show that deaD transcription initiates 838 nt upstream of the start of the coding region. We have also found that DeaD is autoregulated through a negative feedback mechanism that operates both at the level of deaD mRNA stability and Rho-dependent transcription termination, and this regulation is dependent upon its mRNA 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR). These findings suggest that DeaD might be regulating the conformation of its own mRNA through its RNA helicase activity to facilitate ribonuclease and Rho access to its 5′ UTR.