RNA reflections: converging on Hfq
- Susan Gottesman1 and
- Gisela Storz2
- 1Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4255, USA
- 2Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-5430, USA
- Corresponding author: susang{at}helix.nih.gov
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
As the journal RNA celebrates its 20th anniversary, the role of non-coding RNAs as regulators is firmly established in a broad range of organisms. Among these are the many bacterial RNAs that pair with their targets and regulate mRNA stability and translation. In Escherichia coli and other gram-negative organisms, these small RNAs (sRNAs) depend on Hfq, a protein that chaperones pairing. Twenty years ago, Hfq was resuscitated after 15 years of obscurity and the extent and roles of bacterial regulatory RNAs were about to become appreciated to go well beyond the few examples in the literature.
Serendipitous discovery of small RNAs
Both of us entered the RNA biology field somewhat by chance by unexplained or unexpected results in experiments meant to lead elsewhere. We were fortunate to have the freedom at the National Institutes of Health to pursue these observations that led us both to non-coding regulatory RNAs.
Gigi Storz discovered the sRNA OxyS in …
