The Bacillus subtilis ywbD gene encodes RlmQ, the 23S rRNA methyltransferase forming m7G2574 in the A-site of the peptidyl transferase center.
- Philippe Wolff1,
- Geoffray Labar2,
- Antony Lechner1,
- Dany Van Elder3,
- Romuald Soin3,
- Cyril Gueydan3,
- Véronique Kruys3,
- Louis Droogmans3 and
- Martine Roovers2,4
- ↵* Corresponding author; email: mroovers{at}spfb.brussels
Abstract
Ribosomal RNA contains many posttranscriptionally modified nucleosides, particularly in the functional parts of the ribosome. The distribution of these modifications varies from one organism to another. In Bacillus subtilis , the model organism for Gram-positive bacteria, mass spectrometry experiments revealed the presence of 7-methylguanosine (m7G) at position 2574 of the 23S rRNA, which lies in the A-site of the peptidyl transferase center of the large ribosomal subunit. Testing several m7G methyltransferase candidates allowed to identify the RlmQ enzyme, encoded by the ywbD open reading frame, as the MTase responsible for this modification. The enzyme methylates free RNA and not ribosomal 50S or 70S particles, suggesting that modification occurs in the early steps of ribosome biogenesis
Keywords
- Received October 2, 2023.
- Accepted December 3, 2023.
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the RNA Society
This article is distributed exclusively by the RNA Society for the first 12 months after the full-issue publication date (see http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After 12 months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
