Structural requirements for the processing of Escherichia coli 5 S ribosomal RNA by RNase E in vitro

Processing of 9 S precursor RNA in Escherichia coli requires the endoribonuclease RNase E, which makes two cleavages to liberate p5, the immature form of 5 S rRNA. The contributions of primary and secondary structure to RNase E-mediated cleavage of 9 S RNA were investigated. The structure of the 5' domain of 9 S RNA was probed by partial ribonuclease digestion and chemical modification. Our structural analysis of 9 S RNA supports a model in which the 5' spacer domain folds into tandem hairpins so that the first processing cleavage site 5' to the 5 S moiety resides in a stretch of single-stranded residues. Site-directed mutagenesis of a cloned 9 S RNA sequence was performed and synthetic transcripts derived from a variety of such mutant templates were assayed as substrates for RNase E-dependent endonuclease activity in fractionated extracts. Partial or complete deletion of the 5 S sequence did not eliminate site-specific processing of 9 S RNA. Mutations affecting the 5' domain revealed that secondary structure upstream from the first cleavage site is important in maintaining efficient processing. However, secondary structure downstream from either cleavage site is dispensable. Our results suggest that RNase E specifically recognizes and cleaves single-stranded RNA sequences only when presented in a proper conformational context. Adjacent secondary structures appear to play a direct and critical role in the enzyme's recognition of its substrate. Additionally, it may serve to anchor single-stranded regions to ensure the availability of the RNase E cleavage sites.