Payá, Gloria, Bautista, Vanesa, Pastor-Soler, Sandra, Camacho, Mónica, Esclapez, Julia, Bonete, María-José
Analysis of Lsm Protein-Mediated Regulation in the Haloarchaeon Haloferax mediterranei
Payá G, Bautista V, Pastor-Soler S, Camacho M, Esclapez J, Bonete M-J. Analysis of Lsm Protein-Mediated Regulation in the Haloarchaeon Haloferax mediterranei. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2024; 25(1):580. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25010580
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/139556
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010580
ISSN: 1422-0067
Abstract: 
The Sm protein superfamily includes Sm, like-Sm (Lsm), and Hfq found in the Eukarya, Archaea, and Bacteria domains. Archaeal Lsm proteins have been shown to bind sRNAs and are probably involved in various cellular processes, suggesting a similar function in regulating sRNAs by Hfq in bacteria. Moreover, archaeal Lsm proteins probably represent the ancestral Lsm domain from which eukaryotic Sm proteins have evolved. In this work, Haloferax mediterranei was used as a model organism because it has been widely used to investigate the nitrogen cycle and its regulation in Haloarchaea. Predicting this protein’s secondary and tertiary structures has resulted in a three-dimensional model like the solved Lsm protein structure of Archaeoglobus fulgidus. To obtain information on the oligomerization state of the protein, homologous overexpression and purification by means of molecular exclusion chromatography have been performed. The results show that this protein can form hexameric complexes, which can aggregate into 6 or 12 hexameric rings depending on the NaCl concentration and without RNA. In addition, the study of transcriptional expression via microarrays has allowed us to obtain the target genes regulated by the Lsm protein under nutritional stress conditions: nitrogen or carbon starvation. Microarray analysis has shown the first universal stress proteins (USP) in this microorganism that mediate survival in situations of nitrogen deficiency.
Keywords:Like-Sm proteins, Hfq, Lsm, Nutritional stress conditions, Microarray
MDPI
info:eu-repo/semantics/article