An ancient RNA molecule is the answer to a bacterial mystery, according to a study published in linkurl:Science;http://www.sciencemag.org/ tomorrow (July 18). Researchers have identified the binding molecule of a key messenger in bacteria, but to their surprise, the molecule was not a protein -- traditionally thought of as regulators of cellular processes -- but a unique RNA trigger. In the last six years, RNA triggers, called linkurl:riboswitches,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14700/ have emerged as surprising regulators of gene expression -- a role previously ascribed almost exclusively to proteins. "I think if in 2001 you were proposing that bacteria were loaded with flavors of riboswitches" that manipulate genetic expression, said linkurl:Ron Breaker;http://www.yale.edu/breaker/breaker.htm of Yale University and senior author of the paper, "you'd lose all scientific credibility." The riboswitch his group identified, which binds the bacterial second messenger cyclic di-GMP, is the newest addition to a string of linkurl:recent riboswitch discoveries.;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22441/ But it is...
Vibrio cholerae,Bacillus cereusClostridium difficileV. cholerae,
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