Describing the structural robustness landscape of bacterial small RNAs
Citation:
Rodrigo, G., Fares, M.A., Describing the structural robustness landscape of bacterial small RNAs, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12, 1, 2012, art. no. 52Download Item:
Abstract:
Background:
The potential role of RNA molecules as gene expression regulators has led to a new perspective on
the intracellular control and genome organization. Because secondary structures are crucial for their regulatory role,
we sought to investigate their robustness to mutations and environmental changes.
Results:
Here, we dissected the structural robustness landscape of the small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) encoded
in the genome of the bacterium
Escherichia coli
. We found that bacterial sncRNAs are not significantly robust to
both mutational and environmental perturbations when compared against artificial, unbiased sequences. However,
we found that, on average, bacterial sncRNAs tend to be significantly plastic, and that mutational and
environmental robustness strongly correlate. We further found that, on average, epistasis in bacterial sncRNAs is
significantly antagonistic, and positively correlates with plasticity. Moreover, the evolution of robustness is likely
dependent upon the environmental stability of the cell, with more fluctuating environments leading to the
emergence and fixation of more robust molecules. Mutational robustness also appears to be correlated with
structural functionality and complexity.
Conclusion:
Our study provides a deep characterization of the structural robustness landscape of bacterial
sncRNAs, suggesting that evolvability could be evolved as a consequence of selection for more plastic molecules. It
also supports that environmental fluctuations could promote mutational robustness. As a result, plasticity emerges
to link robustness, functionality and evolvability.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/faresmDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: FARES, MARIO ALI
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
BMC Evolutionary Biology;12;
1;
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